Edward Will Always Be Special
by Pink-Ink-92
Summary: Teen drama about love, friendship and acceptance. Read the story to find out more xx
1. Chapter 1

My eyes were closed and the soft summer breeze stroked my face like a loving hand, the scratchy grass tickled my back and I adjusted my position slightly, it had been a hot, dry summer this year and the grass was parched, itchy and golden. I lay in complete peace on my lawn, sandwiched between my two best friends. I felt a a familiar pinkie glide smoothly over my hand I smiled, but soon made sure that any trace of it vanished, I tapped the pinkie with my hand and soundlessly batted it away.

"Alright, here's a question." Phoebe announced, I lazily opened my eyes, the bright sunlight stung my eyes and I saw spots. I grinned sleepily and rolled my eyes, as I usually did whenever Phoebe had a question. I silently prayed to God that it wouldn't be another question about butter, "Why is grass so itchy?" I propped myself up on my elbows on the vivid green grass and looked at her with a cross between mild amusement and total disdain, Corey did the same. Phoebe then followed suit, propped up like we were, we closely resembled three deck chairs on a beach and in the hot summer air we were not a world away from it. Phoebe looked over at me. "Okay, why is this question stupid? It is so valid. I mean, we are on grass, and it's been itching my ass for twenty minutes. It's like sitting on cacti - itchy cacti."

I smiled at her use of the word cacti, I had drummed it into her all the way through bio last year and after all the effort I had put in it was nice to know it had paid off. "Twenty minutes? It's been itching mine from the second I sat down."

"Yeah, but I scratched it twenty minutes ago when you guys weren't looking and it stopped for a bit. But it wasn't a continuous stream so it wasn't fair so say it had been itchy for the whole hour."

"A fair point." Corey said, closing his eyes and letting his sandy blonde fringe fall across his face as he soaked up the rays. "And by the way," He added opening his eyes and shading them with his hand, "I did actually see you scratch your butt." Corey and I cracked up and Phoebe pouted, embarrassed. "So. Olivia, why is grass so itchy?" Corey said in game show host fashion, turning to me.

"I honestly have no idea," I said.

"Take a whack at it." Corey urged, smiling at me. And moving an imaginary microphone towards my face in an almost sinister manner. I slapped his hand away and took a deep breath.

"I guess that it's cause it's made up from lots of sharp blades and it stings but on such a small area of skin that it feels itchy." I said, it was a random guess, but I had to say something or I'd never hear the end of it.

"A fine answer Ms Henderson." He said.

"Why thank you." I smiled. "Here's a question for you guys." I said, looking up and over my garden fence and up to the hill, where the forboding mansion stood, peering ostentatiously over our pastel-covered suburb. "What is that place up on the hill?" I looked at them, and they exchanged a forboding glance. They did this a lot. I moved here two years ago, and it seemed like everytime I stopped feeling like the new girl something like this happened which catapulted me right back out of the "At Home Zone". Corey looked uncomfortable for a second.

"We cannot talk 'ere." Corey said in a French accent, I chuckled as he did a mission impossible run into the living room through the patio doors, Olivia and I followed him into the kitchen and they both had a rushed and whispered discussion in the corner as I turned away from them to face the counter to pour out some lemonade for us all. They were deciding how much to tell me, and I tried not to let the outsider feeling bother me. A fight wasn't worth the trouble, they were all I had.

"Tell her, Corey." Phoebe urged, I smiled trimuphantly at the wall, the no-pressure approach was always a winner. Corey groaned, as if he'd told this story too much, but I could see from the glint in his eye that he was going to enjoy this. Phoebe joined me at the counter and nudged me, saying "I'm just surprised you haven't heard this story before, it was a big thing in sixth grade!"

"Well, then, seeing as we're in eleventh it might be about time I hear it." I said, handing them both their lemonade, they both accepted appreciatively. I wrapped a piece of golden hair around my finger and twisted it, looking into the bottom of my lemonade glass.

"Aaah," Corey, said appreciatively as the lemonade quenched his thirst, he smiled and cleared his throat, ready to begin his performance. "Okay, well, Tommy Bilson, my old bio lab partner, said that his cousin got stabbed up there and pushed out of the big window." I gasped, and Corey nodded, enjoying his moment.

"Oh my God." I said, as it slowly sunk in that something interesting must have happened in my sleepy town. "How have I not heard this before? Did they find out who did it?"

"No, well yes, well, not really-"

"Yes or no, Summers!" I said urgently.

"Alright, calm down, all will be revealed." He said, winking at me, I rolled my eyes. I heard Phoebe give a large slurp from her glass, "They know who did it, a guy called Edward, had scissors for hands-"

"Oh come on! As if I'd believe that!" I scoffed.

"No really, that's how the legend goes." He said mysteriously as he moved over to the window which faced the rickety old mansion on the hill, we followed and stared together. "Edward Scissor-Hands died when the roof collapsed, but not before he killed Jim, apparently they were fighting over some girl who used to live here. According to Tommy Bilson, Scissor-Hands was a total psycho, managed to curry the favour of the town for a while until they saw his violent streak, then they turned on him and trapped him in the mansion and the roof collapsed just after he'd killed Jim." We all stared up at the old building, all except Corey who I could feel staring at me, but I didn't look back. "Legend has it, when the wind blows down into the town you can still hear him crying for his lost love."

"I think it's romantic." Phoebe cooed, not taking her eyes off the mansion.

"Yes, very." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "I know what we're getting you for Valentines Day, he did kill someone Phoebs." I laughed, Corey snickered and his fringe fell into his face.

"But because he was so in love with that girl, maybe she could never love him back, because of his...deformity. I can understand that," She said, still staring intently out of the window.

"You're not deformed." I laughed.

"Might as well be, everyone thinks I'm stupid so no one ever likes me." She sighed. I looked down, everyone did think she was stupid, we just kind of assumed she was too dumb to figure out that that's what we were thinking.

"You're not stupid," Corey said, sliding his arm around her shoulders, "You're just, misunderstood." He added.

"Maybe Eric was misunderstood too," She said looking up at the mansion as me and Corey puzzled over who Eric was, "I mean, he was just so in love with that girl and he even killed someone over her, maybe people just didn't get him, and the person he loved liked someone else. Poor Eric." She pouted.

"Yes." Corey said, pointedly, trying not to laugh. "Poor, misunderstood Eric." I looked down to stop myself looking at Phoebe's face which was deadly serious, and then I found myself wondering, do we really know the whole story about Eric Scissorhands? Edward. Sorry.

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A/N: Well, that's chapter one, trust me, it will get better, but let me know what you think, even if it's bad, I'll try not to be offended :P This is just laying the groundwork, bear with me here.

xx


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's chapter 2, it's still muddling along before the actual storyline really kicks in. I did actualy forget to put a disclaimer into the first chapter so here it is

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or storylines of Edward Scissorhands or any other Tim Burton movie, or any movie, in fact I don't even own my socks, I borrowed them off my sister :P

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"Seriously, Phoebs, help!" I pleaded into the phone as I lifted my petal pink bedspread in order to continue my quest to track down a pair of matching shoes under my bed. "This is unbelievable. I have 16 shoes, not one with a pair, this is ridiculous!"

"Believe it or not, Liv, there's this thing called cleaning, you should try it."

"I have heard of it, but I do not trust it." I said, I heard Phoebe chuckle on the other end of the line and smiled. "Maybe I just have too many shoes." I pouted.

"No such thing, heathen!" She exclaimed. I chuckled. "Well, keep trying slugger, I gotta go."

"Aw." I groaned.

"What? I'm making Corey's birthday present!" She said, a little too defensively. As if I didn't already know.

"His birthday's not for a month."

"And a half - but I'm getting it done early, I'm gonna be swamped in July and I hve free time now. Besides, it's going to take forever to finish." I fumbled around a tad more and found a match, I retrieved them from the land of the lost shoes and slid both shoes onto my bare feet.

"What are you getting him?" I asked, I hadn't even thought about Corey's birthday yet. I'd been too busy helping mom at work, speaking of which, that's why today of all days it was imperative that I have matching shoes. Mother dearest was running for mayoress of our little town and getting increasingly anal everyday.

"I don't really want to say..." Phoebe said tentatively. I cursed myself silently for having hardwood floors, they were starting to hurt my knees afterall I had been kneeling on it for twenty five minutes. Well, that's a lie, I was lying down for about twenty of those minutes, but my hipbones jutted into the hardwood floor and hurt. I rubbed my hipbone under the frou-frou dress that my mother insisted I wear.

"Oh come on, I won't steal your idea." There was a silence on the other end of the line, I could almost hear her mulling it over, it was kind of like listening to a fish tank with no fish in it.

"....Fine," I was in. "I'm making him-" Oh no. She was making, I was hoping I could just get him some description of itunes voucher. "This memory book, like of all the times we've had together."

"Right."

"All three of us, and I've got pictures of every summer, birthday and christmas since ninth grade, oh yeah, I even found that picture of the time when I pushed you and Corey into the mud pit when that rodeo came to town." We both giggled at the memory, I remembered last summer, I was still quite new and Phoebe was the only person who would talk to me, almost as if I had the plague, and then I met Corey and all of a sudden we were a trio, and I guess we never looked back.

"And then you fell in too 'cos you tripped on your own flip flop and nearly choked on your cotton candy!" I added.

"And then the guy went-"

"No kiddies in the pool!" I laughed and I could hear her laughing too then I heard her snort down the phone which made me laugh harder. "Okay, I really have to go now, we've got another speech and we're trying to give off this wholesome family atmosphere, but since there's only two of us, I'd say "Good luck with that!""

"Okay, well, you enjoy, and don't forget to smile or your mom will actually put you up for adoption!" I would've been offended, but seeing as it was pretty much true I didn't really mind so much.

"I'll bear that in mind tonight when I'll feel like I slept with a coat hanger in my mouth."

"Try to have fun, okay? Besides, there's free food!" I smiled, no ill-feeling between Phoebs and her stomach, they were close friends and cared about the well-being of each other.

"Honey!" I could hear mom call up to my room from downstairs, "Now! Please, please, do not make us late for this of all things!"

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow." I hung up the phone before I could hear her response. I had five minutes about twenty minutes ago, but seeing as mom always kept half an hour free for mishaps before we did anything I didn't have much to worry about.

With increasing apprehension I stood up and dusted down my dress, walking across the pine hardwood floors towards the full length mirror. I stared at myself in distinct misbelief. I'm all for cutsie when it comes to kittens, monkies or any other kind of small mammal, but somehow on me, it looked weird. Like my mom had dressed a sixteen year old in a nine year old's clothes.

My hair golden hair was curled at the salon that morning, my dress was white and pale pink with a big, froofy petticoat and white court shoes. Mom had definately pushed the boat out for this one, the more I looked at myself, the more it actually started to grow on me. I spun around in the dress and watched in the mirror as the petticoat flew up and mushroomed around me. My curls sprang up and bounced, they tickled my neck and shoulders, I looked in the mirror and smiled.

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A/N: Yes, it is still getting started, sorry, but I assure you that this build up is necessary to the creation of the characters and gives necessary background information, but the build up from this is necessary for the next chapter which is where the storyline really gets going. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter anyway, if you have, leave a review and act as bike pump for my ego :P If you didn't leave a review and tell me how I can improve my writing. Thischapter wasn't the best I've ever written but I really hope you like it anyway. My one reader :P

xx.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapters, are they too short? Either way, this is where Edward comes into the story and where the full storyline kicks in. I hope you like it.

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"Oh thank God." Mom said as I click-clacked down the stairs and swanned into the hallway, practicing the "delicate grace" as I had been told. "I think we'll just about make it." She said quickly, she scooped her keys up off the end table and I saw her do a quick mental check-list. Her eyes widened for a second and she ran back into the kitchen to pick up her prompts from the kitchen counter. "Where would I be without these, huh?" She chuckled, her eyes still wide, she completed the mental chacklist and took a deep breath.

We were silent for a moment as she picked a piece of lint off her new Jackie Kennedy style suit and adjusted the shoulder pads, she then coiffed her chestnut brown hair and asked me for the last time if I had remembered everything. I answered yes. A wise decision even though I had no idea what she was talking about. This wasn't a new situation, I did this a lot and things usually turned out well enough, in a way it was a sort of good luck system I had. She took another deep breath and turned back to me, calmer and less hectic, she exhaled and said to me "You look beautiful by the way. Your father would've been so proud."

I swallowed, I never knew quite what to say whenever anything like this was brought up or anything even about him was said. I usually settled on a smile, which I utilized very nicely in this situation, particularly as my mum cradled my face in her manicured hands. I cleared my throat which seemed to jerk her back into panic mode. Something I preferred to "Do you want to talk about the pain?" mode.

"Okay, let's go! You're sure you have everything?" She said, eyeing my baby pink beaded clutch suspiciously.

"Yes, now stop worrying!" I said as I ushered her into the waiting silver Mercedes, she was definately putting her all into this.

"Mom, how much did this all cost?" I asked tentatively as I looked around the cream leather interior of the luxurious vehicle.

"Oh, honey relax." She said, I raised my eyebrows. "If you must know I have been very kindly supported by a group of local ladies, they're very nice and have a great sense of community spirit, they've raised quite a bit of money to finance my campaign, and I know that you have to look the part so I spent the money like this." I raised my eyebrowns again. "of course with loads left over for publicity and flyers and things..." She looked away and I could see her absent mindedly mouthing her speech as she played with the electric wondows, rolling it up and down with each new sentence. "Oh God." She said gravely.

"What?" I said, panicking slightly.

"Oh God." She said again.

"Mom, what?" I said leaning over to her and touching her arm to make her look at me and take her eyes off the electric windows.

"I forgot to bring the spare fake nails." I relaxed in my chair and rolled my eyes. "This is terrible," she continued "what if one of mine falls off after all the time I spent on them and then I'm pictured with a missing nail, people will think "She can't even do her own nails, how can she look after our town?" Oh God. I swear, I remembered everything."

"Mom, it's fine." I said, reassuringly, she appeared to relax and closed her eyes as she slid down in the seat slightly. "Oh yeah, Mom?" I said casually, keeping my eyes fixed out the window.

"Yeah?" She said, with her eyes still closed.

"What exactly was the "Everything" that I was supposed to be remembering?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw her spring up in her seat.

"Oh my God, honey, please tell me you're kidding." She pleaded. _Oh Lord_ I thought, as I made the decision that she was probably better off not knowing about my system. I turned back to face her and put my big fake smile on.

"Of course I was." Not a hint of sarcasm in sight.

"Oh good." Mom said as she put her hand to her chest as if she was having palpitations, I silently thanked God that I'd had the good sense of judegement to lie just this once. I had no doubt in my mind that she would have genuinely had a coronary if I had told her the truth. Besides, I bet she won't need them anyway, whatever "them" is.

It was a relatively silent car journey which was spent listening to Mom whisper her speech over and over again, having resorted to putting her head in her lap and closing her eyes to go through this meticulous process, tripping over bits and stumbling on the slogan, getting more nervous and stressed out with each thing she got wrong.

"Mom, chill. You're a great public speaker."

"Really?" She said turning to look at me, wide-eyed.

"Yes, remember in fifth grade when you gave that speech at girl scouts about the imprtance of road safety? You were the best there, and everybody loved you, of course they did, everyone always loves you. Just like they're going to love you today."

"Thanks." She said, looking relieved. She always gave better speeches when she was relaxed, although I'd never tell her this, becuase thinking about being relaxed would stress her out. I've learned.

When we arrived at the town hall where Mom was addressing the public we were blatantly overdressed, and out of both of us, mom was the only one who seemed comfortable, dressed for success as she was in her pastel blue power suit. Luckily we got there early so we didn't have to do the walk of shame down the aisle.

There was a lot of sitting around and waiting, and a lot of running around and setting up mikes, as if there was this great hurry. There was also a lot of staring at me in my dress, good or bad I wasn't quite sure. But I did my job well, I sat on a chair and tried my best to give off a girl-next-door vibe. But once the people started to file in, mom started to get more and more agitated, but she managed to keep calm and introduced herself to our largest audience yet, the whole town must've been there. Probably pursuaded by Joyce, I'd heard she could be very pursuasive. In fact, what I'd heard of Joyce, she bordered on a rapist. I tried not to let this unnerve me but she did have a rapey manner.

As I listened to my mom's speech and tried to stop myself repeating the phrase "rapey mannerisms" I decided that the only way to distract myself was to repeatedly chip my nail polish, something that my mom wouldn't thank me for but it was the only way to stop me playing "Who's the creepiest guy on the back row?"

Anyone who's ever sat in on one of these things before will know that you can only look at someone and pretend to be interested in what they're saying for so long. And since I had heard her 45 minute speech a million times at home I'd say the time limit went down instead I looked out into the audience, I looked at Joyce and tried not to laugh as she blatantly mentally undressed this blonde guy who was facing the othe direction putting his coat on a chair.

I could feel Ambiguous Blonde Guy look round at me as I went back to chipping my nail polish and just as I was going to add him into the "Creepiest Guy" game I looked up and saw that it was Corey. He did a little wave, and I knew I couldn't wave back, because it would steal focus during the speech, I smiled back at him and started chipping my nail polish again, watching as the little candy pink pieces fell onto the froofy skirt of my dress. A golden curl fell into my eyes and I tucked it behind my ear, I looked back over at Corey and he was still staring at me. "Rapey Mannerisms" I said in my head and immediately gave myself a mental hand-slap. It did make me chuckle though.

I didn't look back at him for the rest of the speech, but apparently people enjoyed my mom's public speaking immensely, she got a few laughs in but also a "Hear, hear!" or two. And the appluase at the end was greta as she did her Hilary Clinton wave and walked off to the side to put her arm around me and wave as the local newspaper took a photograph of me blinking.

***

Finally, after posing for hundreds of pictures, mom went off to do meet and greet and hob-nob with the locals, I stepped down from the stage in my ploofy dress and let my whole ensemble bounce and move around me. I felt like the last one left at prom.

That was, until I was ambushed on my way to the "Dips & Nibbles" table by Corey.

"Great speech, huh?" He said, smiling.

"I didn't think you were listening." I said as I reached for some tortilla chips and some ambrosia salad.

"Well...there's a lotta stuff I don't listen to, opera, tennis, the news, doesn't mean it's not great, right?" He said, looking into my eyes, as I shovelled some tortilla chips and salsa into my mouth with the grace of a semi-pro mud wrestler. I reached over for the ambrosia salad and tried some.

"Oh my God, this is good," I said, "Try some of this, Phoebe would go crazy for this." He tried some and smiled.

"Whaddaya know? You were right."

"Well of course she was," Said a familiar, slightly rapey voice from behind me, as Joyce leaned over me to shake hands with Corey."Joyce." She said, offering her hand after introducing herself.

"Corey." He smiled, I could tell that he was getting slightly scared by the way he smiled, so I intervened, using some of my mothers tact and people skills. Or the misdirection skills that I learned from Siegfried & Roy.

"Joyce, hi. Did you enjoy my mothers speech?" I asked with my broad smile.

"Immensely, I think she'll do great things for this town."

"Oh, that's nice, thank you for your support." I said, this clearly book-ended the conversation, I had been polite, but she also knew that if she wanted to try it on with Corey she would have to suffer through A LOT of small-talk first.

Corey breathed a sigh of relief, "Well," He said, "That was more than slightly unnerving."

"I could see that." I laughed.

"Do you wanna go? If I see one more salad I think I'm gonna get mono."

"Corey?" I asked, "Do you even know what mono is?"

"Nope," He grinned, "And I REALLY don't want to find out." I looked over at my mom, she was in her element and I didn't want to disturb her, plus I doubted she'd realise I'd left anyway.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Is your mom okay with it?" He asked apprenhensively.

"Mm." I said, which was really non-obligatory, so technically I wasn't lying, she would've said yes if I'd've asked, but I found myself not wanting to ask, just wanting to get out of this suffocating atmosphere of schmoozing and dip. "Where to?"

"Yours?" He suggested, I shook my head. "We could go back to mine?" He asked.

"Sure." I smiled, "Want to call Phoebe? We can get the gang together?" I smiled at calling us "the gang", it was still a good feeling to know that I belonged somewhere after that little time when I'd moved and I didn't belong anywhere, I was in the Limbo of my life and I finally felt totally at home with my friends.

"She told me she was busy today."

"Oh yeah," I remembered our conversation earlier, "Yeah, don't call her. She's busy, really busy." I think that convered it.

"What? You want me all to yourelf or something?" She grinned cheekily as he blew his blonde fringe out of his eyes.

"Yeah, that's what it is Sparky." I said, rolling my eyes. We walked outside into the crisp summer evening where it was getting slightly dark and cooling again. We walked all the way to Corey's and got some water and started watching an old horror film.

There was silence in the film. We had turned off the lights to create a better ambience for the movie, so only the light of the movie lit the dark room. And then CRACK. I jumped, and knocked the popcorn off my lap. Corey laughed and hopped off the couch to join me on my hands and knees retrieving popcorn from the shag-carpet that his mother just "had to have" and from under the couch.

"You said you don't scare easily!" He laughed.

"I don't!" I scowled. Picking a kernel out from under the couch as the movie played on in the background, not quite so scary anymore.

"Well, either the couch goosed you or someone's telling lies." He grinned cockily at me.

"It was just that bit. Anything else and I'm completely fine. I swear."

"Prove it." He whispered, moving closer to my face.

"Name the challenge; haunted houses, scary films, holding a spider, I can so do it." I said leaning back on my knees.

"Well, I dare you to go up to the rickety old mansion on the hill with me." He dared, moving in closer again, his brown eyes glinting by the light of the TV.

"Time and place, Summers." I said coolly.

"Well, well, Henderson, if you consider yourself up to the challenge..." He paused, as if mulling it over. "Rickety house on the hill, the murder house, with me. Tonight."

"Deal."

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A/N: Oooh, suspense, whatever will happen next?

xx.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey, sorry for the spelling mistakes in the last few chapters, I'll try to pull it together, but to be honest I am an incredibly lousy typer, but I'll try my hardest. Thank you also for your reviews, please keep leaving more, as it's nice to hear that you're enjoying it. Also more people will read it if there's more reviews and I just want to get more people reading it :) xx.

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Corey bounded down the stairs, flashlight in hand like an excited labrador as he jumped the last three and landed with a flourish infront of me.

"Okay, let's go!" He said eagerly.

I scoffed, "Yeah, dressed like this? I'm not sure that court shoes can handle the rocky terrain either!" I said looking down at the froofy masterpiece, now wondering if I looked like a wedding cake. I tried to picture myself climbing up the hill in it. Corey narrowed his eyes, moving closer to me, his eyes squinting directly into mine.

"Is this just a way to get out of going? Because, we don't have to go if you don't want to, I think you're pretty brave anyway." He said, gently touching my arm.

"No!" I said defensively, taking my arm away "I want to go, I mean, bring it on you know, but I can't climb the hill wearing this." I said as I absent mindedly fiddled with the big netted hoop skirt.

"Well," Corey said, pacing from side to side in the corridor, "The Olivia Henderson I knew, would not shy away from a challenge," He stopped to look at me for a moment, then continued his pacing, "She would climb that hill, in mountainous terrain, and not care about the condition of her, might I say, stunning, atire." I smiled, he wouldn't look at me, but looked at his shoes as he paced, he then stopped at the Summers' antique umbrella stand and toyed with the umbrella's. "And she would conquer the mountain with relish!" He said, unsheathing an umbrella and holding it infront of him like a sword. "Slaying any beasts in her path, like a well-dressed Boudicea," I chuckled, he stopped pacing and held the umbrella aloft, looking to the end of it, like a Greek hero, "letting the blood from their throats stain her clothes as a mark of her courage!" I grimaced, he looked back at me. "Too far?"

"A tad." I chuckled, he lowered the umbrella, seeming somewhat deflated and put it back in the umbrella stand. "Point made, but this is a very expensive dress and my mother would kill me if I so much as got a rip in the petticoat."

"Okay, fine. If you are still determined on going, then why don't you go upstairs and try something of my mom's?" He offered.

"I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with that," I said quickly, his mom was a tad larger than I was, and wasn't much for boffeting upon the winds of fashion.

"Okay then, uhhm, go up to my room and see what you can do with my clothes." He looked at me.

"Menswear?" I chuckled. "Corey, unless you have a couple of dresses back there, I really do not think so."

"Oh come on, you could get a shirt and put a belt round it and...I dunno, but honestly, we're going up to a murder scene, I don't think anybody will care what you look like, if there's even anyone up there."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do with your clothes." I said, as I wandered back up the stairs.

"Be quick." He said.

"What's the matter, don't want to go up there in the dark?" He gave me his "We are not amused" face, "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Corey. I'll be done in a few minutes."

"It will be but the work of a moment?" He asked, grinning hopefully.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied, as I climbed the stairs and turned right, along the dark corridor. The whole Summers house was dark, ironic, I thought, given their name. But his parents were very into the whole, classy, gothic, antique thing. Well, his Dad was, his mother however had a habit of buying nick nacks and scattered them around the house where they stuck out like sore thumbs.

The house looked just like any other from the outside, just like all the houses did in our town, but as soon as you stepped inside, it was a sharp contrast to the pastels and bright colours that were everywhere to be seen outside.

I opened the second door on the right and walked into Corey's room. I looked around first, before crossing the threshold, his electric guitar stood precariously by his window and his bed was in the corner. The walls were pale yellow and everything was summery, it was quite clean but cluttered, an exact mirror of Corey's personality. His duvet cover was a beach sunset with surfer style words saying "Free Love" over the setting orange sky.

All around me, there were posters of vintage rock bands and beachy surfing posters. I walked over to his white wardrobe and was welcomed by an avalanche of screwed up clothes. I knew it looked to neat to be true, I picked the screwed up t-shirts off me and started leafing through his clothes. I picked up some small looking blue, flower pattern board shorts and a grey t-shirt I'd seen him wearing before.

I dropped the shoulder straps on my dress, unzipped the zipper and wriggled out of it, slipping off my shoes and letting the dress fall softly onto the hardwood floor. I put on the board shorts, which I then tightened up with an American Eagle belt. I slipped the t-shirt over my head and inhaled the soft, fabric freshener smell, I gave myself a mental handslap for sniffing his clothes. But I just couldn't help myself as I slipped on a large white and blue pinstriped shirt and rolled up the sleeve as the clean smell wrapped itself around me. I slipped on a pair of flip-flops he'd had for a while, they were too small for him now but he liked them too much to throw them away. He always let his toes poke over the edge of them. I slipped them on and they fitted fine.

I wandered downstairs, where he was looking in the mirror, tugging on his beachy t-shirt and pulling down his jeans slightly so that his boxers poked over the top. He ruffled his hair and smoothed it slightly, I cleared my throat to let him know I was there.

"Hey," He said, blushing, "Gotta say, you wear my clothes better than I do."

"Thanks." I said, smiling as I rolled up the sleeves on the shirt I was wearing. "Ready to go?" I asked, just then, the telephone started to ring.

"Can you get that? I'm gonna go through to the kitchen and get my keys." His parents always worked late, and when they weren't working late they were out with friends or at their latest course at the adult learning centre or going salsa dancing. It was inevitable that he always had the house to himself.

"Okay," I said and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, can I talk to Corey please?" Said a familiar voice.

"Phoebe?"

"Liv?"

"Hey, what's up?"

"I'm at home, why are you at Corey's?" She asked quietly.

"Oh, we just went back to his after the speech tonight."I explained, I turned round to see Corey coming out of the kitchen and jangling his keys impatiently urging me to wrap it up.

"Hey," He said, "Come on, let's do it before anyone gets back." I quickly shushed him.

"Do what exactly?" She asked angrily.

"Oh yeah," He added, "Is your dress still on my bed 'cause I can put it in a bag for you to take home if you want?"

The line went dead. "Hello? Phoebs? Hello?" God knows what she must've thought was going on over here.

I put the phone down. "Who was that?" He asked.

"Wrong number." I lied.

"Do you want to walk or take the car?" He asked as we made our way to the door.

"Car, please." I said quietly, still wondering about Phoebe as I listened to my flip flops slapping the tarmac without mercy, much like I imagined Phoebe would slap me when I next saw her. This would take a lot of explaining.

"Well, might I say, you are in for a treat, because I finally managed to get rid of the smell of chilli after weeks of trying." He said smiling confidently as he opened the door and we walked out to the drive way, he locked the door behind him and then quickly ran ahead to catch up with me so he could open the door for me.

"Thanks," I said, as I climbed up into the passenger seat of his SUV, where the smell of pine forest hit me in the face like a frying pan in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. His car was filled with about a hundred pine shaped car fresheners.

"Yeah, it's a bit powerful, huh?" He said, as he sat down in the drivers seat and put on his seatbelt. "I barely notice it, I'm pretty used to it by now actually, hey, better than chilli, right?" He chuckled.

We drove in almost complete silence for five minutes until he asked, "Are you scared?"

"As if." I replied, looking out of the window into the darkness.

"If you were, I wouldn't make you do it. I'd turn back now." He said, staring ahead at the road, blowing his fringe out if his eyes. I always told his that his fringe was a menace to road safety, he always replied that blowing it out of his face proved he was still breathing.

"Well, no. I have a point to prove now. I'm not scared. I'm not scared of most things. You scared?" I said, turning to him, as he kept his brown eyes determinedly fixed on the road.

"No!" He scoffed. I turned back to the window and ruffled my salon-curled hair. "Yeah." He said quietly. "But you know, that's normal. You don't have to be brave all the time."

"I do." I said, chipping my nail polish.

"Not with me you don't." He said, "I'll protect you." I sat in silence for a moment, I wanted to say something back, but the right words weren't there. I wouldn't have been able to say them even if I knew what they were, especially after what happened at the house. It seemed he was waiting for me to say something too, we both held our breath, waiting for the moment to pass like a bad bout of hiccups. After a while of keeping his eyes fixed on the road and keeping mine fixed on my nails, I heard him give a heavy sigh. He'd been waiting for me to say something perfect and I didn't say anything at all.

***

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A/N: Feel free to review, I'm hoping to upload the next chapter soon, and then actually get into the Edward part of the storyline. I had hoped to start that now but obviously, I didn't :P

It just seemed like the right place to end the chapter.

I'll upload soon, well, if anyone's interested :P

xx.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Keep reviewing!

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The big, red SUV came to a purring halt at the bottom of the hill. We hadn't said a word to each other since he said what he said.

"Corey," I said, as he switched off the lights and turned off the engine, "I'll protect you too. You won't need it, but it'll be here anyway."

"I could need it." He said, the lights were off and it was dark, but I could see the moonlight drowning his dark eyes in silver, "I'm scared of the dark." He grinned as he clicked the flashlight on and drenched my face with generic light, "You'll really protect me?" He said, turning off the flashlight again.

"Yeah." I said, I could hear the noise of him moving forward in the darkness and before I knew it I could feel his hot breath on my face. "That's what friends are for." I could hear him stop, there was silence, I reached out to put my hand on his arm, but he had already moved away. "Corey?" I said quietly, there was no reply, the moonlight didn't reach the interior of the car, I blindly reached out and found his arm. I heard the SUV door open and the light on the interior of the car flashed on, it was then that I looked down and realised that I'd reached out for his seat.

I quickly took my hand off the seat and undid my seat belt and stepped lightly onto the ground in his flip-flops, I wandered around the SUV keeping to the path that the moonlight cut in the wilderness, "Corey?" There was no answer again, and I realised I was all alone. Suddenly there was a loud click next to me as Corey turned the flashlight on.

"Let's go." He said.

"Okay," I said, quietly, through the large iron gate I could see the flashlight illuminate a dozen or so dark, looming shapes. "Corey, wait." I said, reaching out for him, I found his arm in the darkness, I felt his body stiffen as I ran my hand frantically down his arm to find the flashlight, I pointed it up at the looming beasts that reigned in the darkness.

It was just topiary, and it was being tripped and cut regularly, someone was definately living here. "Corey...Corey, let's turn back, please." I said, looking at him in the darkness.

"If you want to turn back, we can turn back. But, I'm here okay? I'm your friend, and I'm scared too," He said, "Admittedly, not as scared as you, I think you left a trail of pee behind you as soon as you got out of the car." He murmured with a smirk.

"Okay then, let's go Molder."

"Scully." He took my forearm gently and slid his arm down to my hand and softly ran his thumb across the back of my hand and we walked forward through the titanic gates that were creaking ominously in the summer breeze. We weaved our path between the haunting sculptures that whispered in the air as the wind blew threw the grounds. I could see our shadows, intertwined at our hands, as Corey illuminated the rickety manor that we were shortly about to enter into. As he shone the torch up and down the building, I was sure that I saw a shadow moving in one of the top windows.

We slowly approached the front steps and I felt Corey grip my hand tighter. We knocked loudly on the door, we weren't sure why, we just knew we wanted whatever lay within to know we were there. My heart was in my throat and I was shaking uncontrollably. Corey reached for the knocker and opened the door with loud squeak.

"Hello?" I called, my voice shook as I looked around quickly. I could hear something shift quickly upstairs. "Corey? Did you hear that?" He nodded, as he walked ahead to the huge stone steps. Every step we took was met by a chorus of echoes. "Corey, don't please, I'm scared, I'm scared, okay? Please let's just go back." I pleaded.

"Shhh," He said softly, "It's okay, it's probably just a bird or something. I just want to see for sure what it is." I couldn't breathe, I started humming to myself, my voice shook as I hummed.

"Keep going." Corey urged.

I started the song again, "Sleep little baby, don't say a word, daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing, daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring, and if that dia-" There was a large shift from upstairs, closer to the stairs. I gasped and ran for the door as there was a large crack on the ground and everything went completely dark apart from a narrow strip of light left from the dropped flashlight, but Corey's hands were around my waist and holding me back.

"Corey, stop, let me go!" I pleaded as I struggled against him, wanting to get away as quickly as possible. "Please! Please, stop! Let go!"

"We wait a few more seconds and we find out what's up here, okay? We only have to stay for a few seconds-" He stopped and I stopped struggling against him to hear the movement that we could hear coming down the stairs.

The noise was a _chnk chnk chnk _ with each step the noisemaker took. I could hear that the steps were tentative and gentle, and human. I could hear the noise coming towards us, and then I saw the flashlight rolling around as whatever it wastried to pick it up. And then, as the flashlight moved round I could see clearly illuminated by the flashlight, a pair of glinting, silver scissors.

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A/N: And we all know who that is.

xx.


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh my God." I breathed. Corey and I took a step back, and another and another, getting faster until our four feet were creating a crescendo that reverberated along the ceilings in a series of haunting echoes as we ran towards the door.

"Please dont go." The scissors said quietly, they were still all we could see as they glinted menacingly in the moonlight. Corey took my hand and we stopped, looking back over our shoulders. The flashlight rolled and was dropped again and we could hear the scissors grunt with the effort of trying to pick it up. The figure crouched and it's very human body was illuminated by the torch as it was rolled along the floor to us. It bumped on the stone floor and created a catherine wheel effect on the west wall. The flashlight spun round and rolled loudly, cracking on every flagstone, throwing its light onto every surface it could reach until it bumped my feet and I picked it up. Up close I could see the scissor marks made by the blades after all the attempts to pick it up.

I pointed it at the scissors and jumped from the shock of what I saw. A pale teenager, dressed entirely in black, shielding his eyes with the scissors on the end of his arm.

"Oh my God, Liv." Corey said, grabbed my free arm, "The story was true, we've gotta get out of here." He said, pulling my arm. But I stayed where I was.

"Edward?" I asked, as he lifted his scissors slightly as if to get a better look at me, but after so long in the dark his eyes couldn't stand the light. "Edward? Is that your name?"

"Yes." He replied quietly. I pointed the flashlight down to his feet and he lowered his hands. "Please don't stop singing."

"I have to, I was in danger of making Corey kill himself." I chuckled, pointing my thumb at Corey. Edward moved forwards to see me better, being as he was, on the other side of the cavernous stone entrance hall. Corey put his arm infront of me and pushed me back so I stumbled backwards a few steps and stood infront of me. "Corey, what are you doing?"

"He's dangerous! He killed someone!" Corey said. I looked at Edward, who studied his scissorsand looked on, pitifully.

"Please don't go." He said again.

"See,Corey? He's lonely. Just like you would be!" I pushed Corey aside and moved forward.

"He killed someone, we have to go, Livs, it's not safe here!"

"Edward, did you kill someone?" I asked.

"Yes." he said quietly. I took a step back.

"Why?"

"He tried to hurt Kim. He tried to hurt me too." Edward said, looking down at his clean, glinting scissors as though they were covered with maggots. "So I hurt him. And then I pushed him out of the window."

"Have you been up here the whole time on your own?" Corey asked, taking a step forward.

"Yes." Me and Corey walked in step slowly towards him and stopped a meter away.

"That's gotta be pretty lonely." Corey said, scratching his back, not meeting anyones eye, he felt guilty about assuming the worst because of what Edward looked like. I could tell. Edward looked at his feet. "Still, you're really talented, we saw the topiary. It really looks awesome."Corey said, finally meeting Edward's eyes.

"Everyone tires of it soon enough." Edward said.

"How did you get like this?" I asked, feeling bad about asking.

"My inventor made me, before he finished the last piece," He held up his scissors, "He feel asleep and never woke up." There was a silence which neither Corey or I knew how to fill and it seemes that Edward didn't want to fill it. Corey took a deep breath.

"Say,Ed? Would you consider yourself to be easily scared?" Corey asked.

"Oh, yes." He said, "The first time I saw Kim I was terrified, although after that, she was the one who started screaming." He smiled crookedly at us. "I like being scared."

"Well then,Edward." I think it's only fitting that we invite you to join us for a night of scariness at my house, wherin there will be horror movies galore, enough to scare you...stiff, eheh." Corey chuckled and smiled warm;y at Edward. Edward thought about it for a moment.

"Down there?" he said apprehensively. "You know that they hate me?"

"Well, no one else has to know you're there and those that do we will make extra certain that they know the real story. Trust me, Ed. They'll have absolutely no reason to hate you!" Corey smiled.

"Want a bet?" Edward half-smiled.

"Come on," I said, "Let's just get in the car, go to Corey's and chill, huh?" Edward, smiled at me, and walked with us to the door. Corey and I linked arms with him in a slightly awkward fashion, trying to avoid the blades. Edward smiled apologetically and we walked out of the gigantic double doors together.

As we reached the car, I opened the door to the backseat for Edward. He hopped in and reached for his seatbelt.

"Um, could you...?" He asked me just as I was going to close the car door.

"Sure." I said, taking the belt and fastening it. Now, as he was bathed in the light of the car I could see what he really looked like, and with the exception of the scissors, he looked exactly like us.

I closed the backseat door and climbed into the passenger seat beside Corey and fastened my own seatbelt.

"Listen," Corey said, turning to me. "I heard you say Phoebe's name, on the phone earlier and then you tried to cover it up. Have you guys had a fight?" He said, looking concerned.

"No, of course not, well, she called for you and we got talking and we were discussing your birthday and what we were going to do for you." He raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Party-wise. Just didn't want you to ask about it so I covered it up. And um, she ran out of credit, so that's why it probably looked like she'd hung up on me." I smiled as if it was a funny anecdote. "But she didn't." I said, looking down at my nails with the desperate need to chip them.

"Who's Phoebe?" Asked Edward, leaning forward in his seat.

"A friend of ours." Corey said, vaguely. I couldn't tell whether he'd bought the lie or not, but I couldn't see why he wouldn't. "You'll probably meet her sometime, she's very nice." he said, tonelessly.

It was quite a silent journey, apart from a few awkward moments where I asked a question about Kim and Edward would talk about how beautiful she was or how much he loved her. And I could see Corey shift in his seat and steal a glance at me that he thought I didn't notice.

We stopped outside his house and ran quickly in, so no nosy neighbours could get much of a look at the willowy stranger who awkwardly ran in ahead of me and behind Corey.

Corey lead us all into the kitchen, it was all terracotta and mohagany, but it was warm and comforting after such an eventful evening that the kitchen at least, had remained the same since I'd last seen it, with the exception of one or two gaudy biscuit barrels. Corey got us some drinks from the big, silver fridge. He offered Edward some beer and poured it out, giving him an old plastic straw that was warped into a heart shape. Edward leant over the counter to sample his beer, he took a cautious sip and shuddered a bit. "Hey, this tastes a bit like lemonade." Edward said, raising his eyebrows, "I like it." He said, smiling, mischievously. Corey looked round at me, quizzically and then seemed to decide to move past it.

"Indeed it does, young Edward," He said, putting his glass of scotch under the ice dispenser on the fridge, the loud clunking noise that followed made Edward jump, Corey handed me my tumbler of Scotch which I took apprehensively, he winked at me as I took a sip. "Drink up, me hearties." Corey said, grinning at us cheekily, "To new beginnings." He said, holding up his tumbler, which greeted mine and chimed happily and then we both leant down to tap Edward's glass with our own. I took a sip from my glass and looked to the bottom.

"Olivia, what should we start him on? Halloween or A Nightmare On Elm Street?" Corey asked, holding up two DVD cases and leading us through to the den. I took Edward's glass for him and held it up so he could take a sip as we walked, he hiccuped and then smiled bashfully.

"I'd go for Elm Street, definately. It seems pretty appropiate right now." I chuckled as I inspected Edward's mammoth talons which he was holding determinedly by his sides, willing himself not to break anything.

We sat down on the sofa and Corey and I pulled the coffee table closer so that we could rest our feet and Edward could lean over and have his drink.

***

Two films, nine beers and one very giggly Edward Scissorhands later, Corey and I were attempting to put him to bed in our inebriated state. We were dizzy and the room was spinning around us, not that the task of putting a squirmy scissorhanded man to bed wouldn't have been tricky without the unwelcome addition of beer goggles to cloud our judgement. We had just tucked Edward into the guest bedroom when I looked down at my wrist to see that it had been slit slightly, probably somewhere between pulling the sheet over Edward and removing the heart shaped straw from his mouth. Corey looked at it and giggled, "That looks baaad, you-you come through to the kitchen and we'll sort it out." He said as he led me, stumbling into the kitchen and haphazardly ripped some kitchen roll to place round my arm. "Hold on," He said, looking at my arm whilst his eyes crossed and uncrossed themselves, "I can't do this, I'm just Corey, I don't do mm-nedical care. Y-You need nurse Corey." He said, stumbling out of the room, smacking his arm on the door frame and closing the kitchen door behind him.

There was a knock on the kitchen door "Corey, there's someone at the door!" I said, looking around the kitchen to see where Corey had gotten to. There was a knock again. "Come in!" I yelled.

"Nurse Corey, at your cervix." He said effeminately, with one hand on his hip and the other, perched out to one side like a teapot.

"You're not at my cervixses." I giggled drunkenly, smacking my elbow on the kitchen counter on my way to sit down on a bar stool at their mahogany breakfast bar.

"I could be..." He said, swaggering forward. I crinkled my brows at him, "Please Ms Henderson, don't flatter yourself. I am a professional." He said, clumsily taking the stool beside me. "And it might just about be time for your check-up." He slurred, giggling and then looking down at his feet on the stool for a second before looking back up at me, where his blonde fringe had fallen into his warm, brown eyes. "And first of all, we must check your oral health." He said, leaning in towards me, and looking deep into my eyes, putting one hand behind me to steady himself. I leaned back, to look at him, our eys were locked for a moment and nothing was said. "Come now, Ms Henderfon." He slurred, "We're all girls here...." He giggled, still looking at me, as if waiting for me to lean in. I knew what to do it, but all I could think about was the argument with Phoebe earlier, I couldn't do this to her. Corey put his head down, and his fringe fell into his eyes, "Olivia..." He sighed heavily. "You can't do this. I never know where I stand with you, one second you're acting like...like you want me to do something...and then you're telling me to cool it. I just...I don't think you get how much it hurts. Everytime you turn away, it breaks my heart a little more. You can't do this to me. To us."

I shakily stood up and he lifted his head. "I have to." I said quietly, taking a deep breath, "Phoebe likes you." His large, expressive eyes gazed up at me.

"I know." He said, looking down.

"You know?" I said, slumping back onto the stool beside him.

"Call it femenine intuition." He smiled, I looked away, "Liv...she's great, but it's not her I want...it's you. From the second I saw you on your first day at school, in the cafeteria, buying an apple..." He giggled sheepishly, "It's always been you." I looked back at him, he had such a sad look in his eyes.

"Y-You and Phoebe," I started to sniffle, "You're all I have, and if you and me..., well, Phoebs would hate me, and I'd screw it up with you, then you'd hate me. Then, I'd have no one. She was the only one who was nice to me when I first came here, how is this repaying her, huh?" I said, as my eyes stung, Corey reached out for me and I wrapped my arms slowly around him, sniffling into his neck, breathing in the detergent smell from his clothes and the soapy smell from his neck as they mingled together.

"You'll always have me, Livs. You'll always have me." I sniffled. "If we do this or not. If it goes wrong, or if it goes really right. You're my best friend, I'm not going to screw it up by asking for all or nothing, I just know that I need you with me." I sniffled again.

"Why do we have to be going somewhere? Why can't it just be about now?"

"Because..." He sighed, "You're either going to wake up in the morning and feel stupid, or feel a bit weird about our friendship or guilty. Or you might just not be able to control yourself anymore," He said, grinning at me devilishly. "So, options. All, nothing or freaky."

"You like freaky?" I said, turning my head and whispering into his ear.

"Nurse Corey does." He grinned as I leaned in. And then the phone rang.

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A/N: Oooh, and who could that be? Please don't forget to leave a review :D If you want, ahem :P

xx.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: It's been a while, I know, but don;t forget to leave a review or some feedback to let me know how it's going, if you like it, if you don't like it, or if there's a chapter that you think needs to be rewritten, whatever. :D

xx.

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"Where the hell have you been?!" The voice snapped down the phone.

"Mom? I'm at Corey's." I said innocently.

"Well, of course I know that or I wouldn;t have called here!" My mother said, her voice reminding me of twigs snapping underfoot, the words were sharp and punchy, like she was selling a particularly violent detergent, "_buy it now and kill the pests in your life!_" At this moment I feared that I was said pest and about to meet a particularly gruesome end. "I called Phoebe and she told me you were here."

"Of course she did." I said coolly, slurring slightly.

"Have you been drinking?" She said accusingly. I could picture her eyes narrowing as she glared into our cordless phone.

"No!" I said, defensively, looking guiltily into the engraved mirror which reflected the dark hallway, the only light coming from the yellow source behind the kitchen door that had been left ajar at the end of the corridor. And I looked closely into the eyes of the bedraggled liar that looked back at me.

"Olivia, think _very_ carefully about what you say because you have lied to me once today already," She said, "enunciating every word as if she were sharpening them ready to throw at the delinquent daughter she was scolding. "You told me you had bought everything with you, your cell phone topped the "everything" list. So, imagine my worry when I can't find my sixteen year old daughter in a large hall full of questionable middle aged men and I'm calling and calling, and not once did said daughter pick up.

"Mom, I am so sor-" I started.

"No, no." because then after waiting for your return to the hall for an _hour_, " She barked, "I returned to an empty house, so I start to call you again, by now, more than slightly panicked, and then, I hear your ringtone coming from the kitchen," I held the phone further away from my delicate ears prtoecting them from her shrill voice, "Thank God Phoebe knew where you were!" The dark creaky door was pushed further open into the corridor and the light illuminated a tall silhouette which leaned against the mahogany door frame, standing silently in the darkness as the yellow light spilled into the corridor, "Now I'll ask you one last time, "She said, taking a deep breath, "Olivia - Have you been drinking?"I gnawed at my thumbnail.

"No." I said, hating myself for lying.

"Right." She said, curtly - she didn't believe me. "I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes."

"Oh, that's okay, Corey said it's fine for me to stay over, you know, in case you're tired." I reasoned attempting to postpone my impending doom.

"Ha!" She snorted, " Yes, of course, by all means, why not let you sleep over at a friends house, eating marshmallows, watching movies late into the night and in general enjoying the kind of merriment that sculpts the childhood memories of which you will cherish for years later." She spat, "That's a lesson well learned! I'm picking you up in fifteen minutes."

The line went dead and I placed the phone back onto the base. The figure at the end of the corridor pushed one hand through his ruffled hair while the other rested in his pocket.

"I take it that was your mom." He said evenly.

"Yeah, she's picking me up in fifteen minutes." I replied, slouching down the corridor.

"And she was cool with the drinking?" He asked cautiously.

"Shit!" I squeaked, my panicked eyes widened, "She's gonna know! I put a clammy hand to my forehead.

"Okay, don't worry." Corey said, "Corey - Expert of...Conceal...ature? Concealing...stuff, is on the case," He said, putting his hands on his hips in superhero fashion. "So you go back up to my room, put your dress back on and when you come back down bring all your stuff. Awaiting you will be a crack team of fake sobreity." He said confidently. I scurried quickly up the dark, twisting staircase as he called after me, "Trust me!"

I thundered along the corridor so fast that my socks slid on the hardwood floor and I overshot the doorway, I quickly jumped into the room and flicking on the lightswitch I started ripping Corey's clothes off my body, desperately throwing them around the roomso they landed on his desk, on his guitar and bizarrely enough onto the rotating blades of his ceiling fan in a flurry of panic. At last in my underwear I searched for a clock - 12:20. And my mother's arrival would be imminent. I could picture her stomping agrily down the drive and throwing open the door of her black truck and speeding down the empty streets, leaving a trail of searing rage behind her.

I ran over to the bed and stepped barefoot into the centre of the giant, pink meringue pulling the dress onto my body using the straps, zipping it up at the side and smoothing the petticoat at the front. I grabbed my shoes and ran downstairs where I could hear Corey cluttering downstairs in the kitchen, I walked through the open door and was greeted by a series of aerosols, tubes and packets piled onto the granite breakfast bar. I pointed at the pile and began, "What th-?"

"No time," He said, "First - mints. Chewable." He said, offering me the open packet of mints, I took four and stuffed them in my mouth. "Chew-chew-chew." He urged, "Next - aerosols." He said, hastily grabbing the magnolia scented air freshener that lived in the downstairs toilet. I dropped the shoes which had been hanging lamely from my hand and spread my arms as Corey sprayed the magnolia scent all over me to overpower the "whisky-stink". He then grabbed the jasmine scented aerosol and sprayed that too as I continued to chew violently on the mints, hoping that I wouldn't bite the inside of my cheek. He placed the aerosols back on the counter and shovelled mints into his mouth.

"Do me." He mumbled through the mints pointing to the aerosols.

I took the aerosols and thoroughly sprayed him until he smelt like he was conducting a love affair with a bowl of pot-purri. He picked up his Dad's breath-spray and squirted it into his already full mouth and handed it to me so I could do the same.

"And this is for your head tomorrow." He said, handing me an ice-pack, we both chuckled, "No," He stopped, "Seriously, it's gonna be carnage in the morning." He said, smiling kindly as he pushed the ice-pack into my hands.

"How am I gonna walk to the car in these?" I said, looking helplessly at the formiddable heels that had seemed so innocent just hours earlier and were now strewn across the floor - a death trap.

"How would I know?" He grinned, "I dunno, just take each step slowly and be careful." I leant down to pick up the heels from the terracotta tiles, a task which involves a lot of effort just to keep my balance. I steadied myself on the cold tiles and then reached up to take Corey's outstretched hand as he pulled me to my feet, I stood and used Corey's broad shoulders to support myself as the room swam and the heels knocked against his shoulder. The sound of the doorbell rang through the house and Corey went to answer the door, allowing the disciplinarian which lay on the other side of the door to unleash her fury. I slid the shoes onto my feet and stumbled down the hallway.

"Fifteen minutes, my ass." I mumbled as the door open to reveal my mother, and she didn;t look furious, she looked small, and worried.

"Hello, Corey." She said tonelessly.

"Good evening Mrs Henderson." Corey said, looking at his feet, "I'm sorry you had to drive all the way out here."

"It was no problem, the roads are completely clear." She replied, looking behind Corey to find me, as I wandered carefully along the dark burgundy carpet . "Olivia." She said, Corey cleared his throat uncomfortably and ruffled his hair, still not taking his eyes off his shoes. "Thank you for letting her stay." She said to Corey, all the while looking at me. Corey nodded, not looking up from his battered sneakers as I walked past. Mom headed down the front porch and started towards the driveway where the engine was still running on her truck. I heard Corey gasp slightly then snicker to himself as I followed Mom. I tripped and stumbled on the porch step, but before mom could see he caught me under the guise of a tight hug.

"It was great having you!" Corey said enthusiastically, turning us round so that my back was to the front door, as I felt his hand glide down my back and over my skirt, which he carefully untucked from my underwear as I tried not to die from embarrassment. "Don't worry, I didn't look." He chuckled quietly as he broke away from the embrace when my mother turned to face us. "Much." He added, grinning at me.

"Perv." I giggled. my blissful smile wiped from my face when I realised my mom was still standing in the driveway baying for my blood, with a thunderous expression on her face, her anger was now fully restored to its greatest capacity. "Bye." I said, looking down and trudging down the driveway and climbing into the waiting truck. Mom waited for Corey to retreat back inside before she got into the truck with me. Sh pulled out of the driveway and drove out of the close in silence.

"Mom..." I looked down at the dashboard, "I'm so sorry." My apology was met by a chorus of silence, after a moment I looked over at her. Her eyes were kept on the empty road, even though she knew this route like the back of her hand.

"I don;t want to talk about it." She said quietly.

"Okay." I mumbled, "But I am really sorry." I tried.

"You know what?" She said, as she changed gear to go faster, "Maybe we shouldn't talk at all." It wasn't a question, she was beyond angry and I didn;t know what this was. It would be considered an overreaction for any other parent, but not for mine. Because she'd kept me close ever since dad died. And when she lost me tonight, it must have felt like she'd lost control and everthing wasn't going just as planned. She was scared for me because I was all she had left and she didn't want to lose me. I reached for the radio, anything to break the unbearable silence, but I knew it was not a wise move so I gently rested my hand back on my lap, observing the chipped nail polish and thinking that after all my worry and all through the silence what I had done was a far worse punishment. I had scared her. And as her eyes misted and I could see her reflection in the windshield blinking back tears I knew that she'd never do that to me. I wasn't scared of my mom. Co dependent, close, however you put it we needed each other. And that night I had done something to the ties that held us together, the ties were frayed and I had no idea how to make it better.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Written in Corey's perspective where Chapter 7 left off. I wasn't very sure about writing from a different perspective so late, but it's necessary to the plotline and to the development of characters within the plot.

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Corey

My eyelids fluttered open as the bright summer sunlight seeped in through the open window. The curtains were open as they always were when I went to sleep. The moonlight helped me sleep and some nights I would just look up at the stars and think until I thought myself to sleep. But I seemed to remember not needing the help last night. I opened my eyes fully and winced as a searing pain shot through my head, I swung my legs out of bed and looked down at my fully clothed body and soiled t-shirt. I tugged on the yellow fabric and examined the patch of vomit that was strewn in a downwards streak across the bright VW that was the featured design. _Nice. _I thought as I scratched my head and meandered across the hardwood floors, my socks slipping and sliding as I dragged my feet. I yawned loudly and steadied myself in the doorway holding my aching head.

I looked back into my room, something was amiss. And then I realised. My lamp wasn't normally smashed on the floor when I woke up, I didn't generally position my desk chair on its side, There was a vomit stain on my t-shirt and my head felt like it was propping up a grand piano. The whole situation stank of a night of debauchery at the hands of my fathers eight year old scotch, but nothing more so than the unfortunate t-shirt. I peeled off the stinking t-shirt and slumped downstairs where the kitchen door was ajar and I walked through, greeted by the sight of a pile of air freshener aerosols and mints. My socks skidded on the cold tiles and I looked over at the clock by the window over the sink. 13:27. The parentals were out at work and our dog, Dorito was still at the vets. I had the house to myself. Man of the house, nay, King of the house. I inhaled deeply and surveyed my kingdom, wondering what to eat. I slid over to the fridge in my socks, Risky Business-style, opening the cold silver door and retrieving the orange juice from its icy abode. I took a dirty tumbler from beside the sink and poured in the orange juice, taking a sip as I leaned back against the granite worktop, looking out of the window, I flinched as the cold surface touched my skin but leant back anyway, kind of to prove I could take it, but also because this was where I always leaned, topless or not. I took a deep gulp from the tumbler and grimaced as the familiar tang of whisky soured the orange juice.

I put the tumbler onto the worktop behind me and looked out of the window at our lifeless garden. It was a lawn and nothing more, no flowers, but no weeds, the only things keeping our garden from looking drab were the decorative lawn gnomes that served no purpose other than to look tacky and to occasionally creep me out. My mothers nicknack obsession was worsening, it had extended to wishing wells and wheelbarrows which crowded our front lawn where appearance was everything. But our back garden showed us for what we were: dull suburbians without the time or the patience to put anything in our garden that wasn't completely controlled. Not that I could fault Dad's efforts to make us more agricultural, it's just that the lacklustre cress on the windowsill was about as close to our garden as any living thing came, with the exception being Dorito. And my dad occasionally. I chuckled as the memory of his scrawny arms attempting to push our bulky, old lawnmower across the lawn last summer. We hadn't mowed it in so long that we couldn't see the dog house from the kitchen window and we had to use my room to get a birdseye view to map it out. Dad never was one for physical labour, but I made exceptions for him, he was British.

I looked over at the breakfast bar and paled as I remembered the events of the previous night. The bar stools were still half pulled out, as though people had been sitting on them just minutes ago. But they hadn't been moved from last night. "Nurse Corey?!" I exclaimed, "Ohhh no...God, why are you such a freak?!" I scolded as I sat on one of the barstools and slapped my already aching head, after my behaviour last night, I did deserve it. Unbelievable how much time I devoted to not acting like a total tool in front of Olivia when one drunken night screws everything up. "Oh my God, is-? Noooo!" I groaned, remembering how I had leaned in, we were both drunk, but she might not see it that way. _Weirdness. But, she leaned in too..._I thought, _Oh, her mom so knew what you had been doing. Her mom knows everything, she knew what you've been thinking too, I could tell. _I could hear a metallic clunking enter the kitchen, I whipped round on the barstool, my heart beating fast as I turned to face the scissorhanded man who looked a little paler than usual and who I had totally forgotten about. "Shit! Ed, man, you scared me." I said, slapping a hand to my bare chest, which I was increasingly self-conscious of as I looked at my fully clothed companion and wished that I'd stuck with the vomit t-shirt.

"Sorry, Corey." Edward said, attempting to carefully cradle his sore head in his scissorhands.

"It's fine." I said looking out the window again, "Hey, I'll get you an aspirin, huh?" I offered, Edward nodded, smiling awkwardly.

"So, um, Olivia left?" Edward asked.

"Yup." I said, attempting to appear casual as I walked across the room to the cupboard next to the cooker hood. And taking out the brown, plastic medical basket, and placing it on the counter, carefully picking through a plethora of multicoloured inhalers. Another charming feature of my dad, I'd had asthma as a kid but grew out of it in puberty, Dad however remained one of the wheezies. I collected a series of aspirin packets and alka-seltzers. And brought them back over to the breakfast bar where Edward was still standing awkwardly, then again, for a scissorhanded man, was there any other way to stand?

"You, uh, wanna sit down?" I asked, pulling up another stool next to me at the breakfast bar.

"Thank you." Edward said, sitting down. I took two mugs from the cupboard and filled them with water at the sink.

"How's your head?" I asked.

"It's fine." Edward said, unconvincingly. I raised my eyebrows. "It hurts, a lot and I feel really, really sick."

I"It happens to the best of us, Ed. My head is total carnage today. I haven't drunk like that since...well, a while." I smiled. "But, luckily for you, and your head, I'm somewhat of an expert with hangovers, therefore we can use evey single hangover cure known to man to help us get through this." I said, dropping an alka-seltzer and paracetamol in our waters.

"That was phase 1 and 2. If we keep on drinking lots of water the alcohol will be out of our bloodstream quicker. Phase 3 - Big breakfast," I announced as I pulled a packet of bacon and some sausages out of the fridge and put them on the counter next to the range cooker.

"So, are you and Olivia...uhm, a thing?" Edward asked. I could feel him looking at me, even though I had my back to him as I crouched down to retrieve a frying pan, wondering whether or not to be honest. It would feel weird to be open with someone apart from Olivia.

"Well, no. I, uh, I just wish we were." I chuckled putting the pan on the burner, lighting it and pouring in the olive oil.

"So you wish you were, but you're not?" Edward, asked quizzically. "I don't get it."

"Me neither, man." I laughed. "Well, she knows I like her, and I- I _think_ she likes me back. And we almost kissed last night, but then the phone rang and we didn't say anything else about it." I poured the bacon ino the pan and heard it sizzle. I put an apron over my bare chest, for safety. "In a way though, I guess it's better. I mean, looking back now, even leaning in would make me look like I was trying to take advantage or something, right? Right. Yeah, I mean, and one drunken kiss is not what this is all supposed to be about. Right?" I asked, looking at Edward over my shoulder as I flipped the bacon. He looked at me blankly. "Well, that's not how I want it to be. And if she can only bring herself to make a move when she's drunk..." I said, pressing the bacon down and then flipping it again, "Then I guess I don't need her." I bent down to take two plates out of a cupboard and placing them carefully next to the hob, we were quiet for a moment as I poured the bacon out onto the plates. "Yeah, okay, the was a lie. I do need her, friends or more, but I can't be without her. Even if I have to let this whole thing go." There was silence still, "It's great that we can have these talks, Ed." I chuckled.

"Well, when you're in love you want to be with the person you love all the time. But maybe sometimes the best thing to do is let go. Do you really think you could just be friends? That there wouldn't always be a part of you in agony, knowing that you could've been together?" I didn't look round at him.

"Pass us two eggs, huh?" I asked, he was quiet for a second and then I heard him get up. I turned round and saw his scissors scratching at the door trying to open the fridge. "Forget it." I said, "I got it." I took the eggs and walked back over to the oven. I had to say something. "Well, it's not like she doesn't want to be with me, she said that she does, but...it's just 'cause Phoebe has a crush on me or something so she feels like she'd be betraying her."

"Wouldn't she be?" Edward asked innocently. I cracked an egg on the side of the frying pan.

"Well, come on, if Phoebe was a good friend she'd let her two best friends be happy." Edward was silent, "Oh God," I groaned. "I am such an ass." I cracked the other egg. "I mean, it sounds like I don't care about how Phoebe feels, but I do. There's - There's no right answer in this situation." I said, frying both eggs. I could hear the phone ringing from down the corridor. "That phone..." I groaned, "Bane of my life, man. Tell you what, there's your food on the plate, just eat it before it gets cold." I said, putting down the fish slice and running to get the phone. As I answered it I was suddenly aware how strange I must look, shirtless with an apron on. "Hello?"

"Summers you piece of shit!" Came a familiar voice down the phone.

"Campbell...the greetings get better each time I pick up the phone, I tell ya." I said.

"Yeah, whatever. Just thought I'd give you a call, just to invite you to a house paaaarrt-ayy! You know, I just thought you wouldn't have been invited, since you spend your evenings either knitting or dreaming about Oh-liiiiiviaaaa!" He laughed down the phone. I hadn't even told him that I liked her, it seemed she was the only one who couldn't figure it out.

"Nah, man. I told you, just friends. But I'm always ready for a party, we're bringing beer and stuff right?"

"Yeah. Just friends?" He laughed, a lot this time, "I should tell you, Phoebe told Kaya who told me and she is pissed and she's going to the party so maybe it would be better if you didn't bring along the missus."

"Dude, shut up." Oh no, the "Dudes" were back. In the days before Olivia moved here I was with the jocks and it was fun. Parties, girls and football. I didn't ever really feel like myself though, I was Jock Corey, I said "Dude" a lot. I'd managed to cut it back to "Man", but as soon as I was within spitting distance of any of them, the Dudes were back. I didn't want her to think I was some kind of meathead. Even if I was.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just be there okay? It'll be nice to have a get together. We don't ever see you anymore. Chang, Laurence, Watson. They all agree, the group's just not the same without you. It's like a ying without a yang, dude." I was silent while I enjoyed the metaphor. "Besides, there'll be a ton of girls at this party. And since you're not with Olivia there's no reason that you shouldn't be blasting all cannons , if you know what I mean." I could picture him winking at the other end of the phone.

"No, man, I'm just not interested." I said, firmly. Although the offer was tempting, I'm only human.

"Dude, two years. I know you started early but that doesn't mean you have to give it up for two years just to even it out!" He was acting as though it wasn't difficult. "She's not interested. Just give it up and get back on the pitch. In both meanings of the word." The imaginary wink again.

"Campbell..." I started, Campbell was always the devil on the shoulder in any moral dilemma, and he always won, mainly because he'd give you such crap if you didn't go with him. But most importantly because there's a little naughty piece in all of us. It's just about knowing when the naughty portion of your personality chooses to appear. And like a Punch and Judy puppet show it seemed mine was popping up again.

"Hey, Corey?" Edward called. "This is really good!" I smiled, wondering how I'd be able to smuggle a scissorhanded man into a highschool house party.

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A/N: Don't forget to leave a review telling me what you think please :D:P

xx.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Back into Olivia's perspective and it's the morning after the night of debauchery at Corey's.

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My alarm beeped loudly, twice, three times, sleep. My head pounded in response and I clutched my hand to my forehead as I squinted my eyes closed and swung my legs out of bed. They were stiff like lead and I felt dizzy. I used my ornate bedside table to steady myself. I remembered setting the alarm last night. As a reminder that I had to wake up early to make my apology to mom.

I recalled how the truck had glided softly into the driveway and mom and I had walked soundlessly into the house, up the stairs and into our bedrooms. Not so much as a goodnight, neither of us daring to acknowledge each other as if afraid that in the years after this is how we would recognise each other. As if for all the chick-flicks and nail-painting this was who we really were. Too distant to be close but too close to be separate, each of us like a ghost living in the house of the other. I remembered waking up in the night, needing to throw up and just having the stregnth to run into my en-suite bathroom, turn on the shower and retch into the toilet, flopping my head onto the seat as I kneeled on the lino, surrounded by darkness. I'd forgotten to turn the light on. I stuck my finger down my throat to make sure I wouldn't have any more to throw up in the night. I shakily rose to my feet and turned off the shower, wiping my mouth on a towel and turning on the light. I looked in the mirror, my hair was matted and my eyes were pink. I spat into the sink and reached up into the mirrored cabinet, I clumsily took out some mouthwash and swilled it around my mouth and then spat it out into the sink. Then I shut off the light and dragged my body back into bed.

I put my feet on the floor, grounding myself ready to start what would be a tiring day, standing up I sloped into my bathroom, it was six am. The curtains were drawn in my bedroom although there was a dark light seeping in through the white curtains and leaking onto the dusky pink and off-white striped wallpaper. I closed my bathroom door and took my shower. Washing my hair and all the night before off me, wishing my mom would do the same. But the woman held a grudge tighter than a pair of on-sale Manolos. And she did like Manolos.

After that I wandered over to my wardrobe and dressed myself, carefully selecting an outfit that would at the very least impress mom, if not make her question whether or not I was becoming a teenager from hell. I chose a blue chiffon dress with a floaty hem, which I belted around the waist with a cream belt, and added some cream court heels. I blow-dried my hair, the waves forming without any prompting by a hairbrush and I tamed them with a blue hairband. I did my make-up demurely, careful to conceal the large dark circles beneath my eyes and putting blush across my cheeks to make me look less palid. It was a well thought out step of my plan to get my mothers forgiveness.

I crossed the room back to my bedside cabinet and took out an old post-it block and a pen and started writing.

I walked quietly out of my room and onto the soft carpet of the hallway and started sticking post-its along the magnolia walls. I placed, "I'm so sorry." on her door, silently listening, she didn't stir, I stuck "Please forgive me" next to her door frame. "To show you..." a little further to the right along the wall, "How sorry I am..." a little further along, almost at the staircase, "(And I really..." on the white banister, "...REALLY am)" further down the banister, "I've prepared something..." I was almost at the bend at the bottom of the stairs, "A little special..." I stuck that one just before the bend, "To show you just how sorry I am". That on was put on the wall at the bottom of the stairs, opposite the bannister, "And how much I love you." I had drawn a little heart in the corner of that one and placed it on the white door.

I started making a fruit salad for her breakfast. It was Sunday now at about seven am, but she would probably sleep in until 10. I chopped strawberries on the board and sliced an apple, placing them in a bowl, after that adding some mandarin segments, pouring in the mandarin juice and then topping with grapes and putting the bowl in the fridge. I was able to whip up some brownies in an hour, using a mix we had in the cupboard. I let them cool and then laid them out attractively on a plate, using cream icing to stick maltesers to the top. It was a good thing mom always bought chocolate but never ate it. I put the cover over the plate of warm chocolate brownies and put them on the pine kitchen table. I did the dishes, and put them away again, the kitchen looked spotless, there was nothing that I wasn't going to do to fix this.

I picked up a pair of scissors and stepped out of the patio door and into the garden. Looking up into the air I could see that it was red and striped with orange, it was breathtaking, I crouched down next to the flower bed which was now overspilling from being untended for so long. I snipped a few of the many pink and white roses from the bed that heaved in the breeze, I breathed in the air. I was rarely ever up this early and I'd never realised how fresh it was before the cars had started, I inhaled again and stood up, clutching the flowers to my chest, a powerful gust of wind blew my hair into my face. I turned my head so my hair flew behind me and I was facing the breeze. The wind whispered softly through the willow at the end of the garden and I could hear its leaves rustle. i closed my eyes and buried my head in the petals of the flowers, inhaling their delicate scent, _Wake up and smell the roses_ I thought and smiled to myself, my eyes were still closed as I silently prayed that I would be forgiven afterall, "Please..." I whispered, crossing my fingers. I took one last deep breath and opened my eyes again. The spell was broken, and now I was just a girl, holding some flowers and looking at a fence.

I headed back inside and put some water in the bottom of a glass vase, dropping a penny in the bottom. A little trick I had learned from mom. I could feel a nervous tug in my chest as I put the roses into the vase and carefully arranged them the placing the vase softly in the center of the breakfast table. It was now 9am and there wasn't so much as a single stir from upstairs.

I managed to pass the time by brewing some coffee just the way mom liked it, leaving it in the pot ready to be reboiled. I turned on the radio to her favourite easy listenign station, hoping that it might wake her. But after twenty minutes of slowly turning up the volume notch by notch the music was borderline loud and I had to turn it down, conceding defeat by headache but leaving it on to create an ambience.

I wandered aimlessly downstairs, drawing curtains and tidying. Even settling down to watch TV for an hour or so, flicking through old Friends re-runs, chuckling along with the jokes I'd heard a million times but somehow still found funny. The quips and witticisms commiting themselves to my memory, as if part of my own life, ready to pop into my head at the most random moments.

It was now 12pm and I was still waiting downstairs to hear my verdict, still wondering if I was doomed to an adolescence of barbed comments and filling the awkward silences with stunted chit-chat that would almost fall short. I'd already lost Phoebe and my mom meant more to me than that, my only family. I quietly went up stairs to see what the hold-up was. At the top of the stairs I noticed that the family portrait was askew, I readjusted it and remembered. I was thirteen in that photo, before I even understood what cancer was. Before it had wormed its way into my life. Before Dad had insisted we move away, to a new place. A fresh start. This was after he had given up on the chemotherapy. He didn't want to die in the city, he wanted a house with a picket fence, flowers and lawn gnomes. A pretty selfish way to end it all, moving me away from my friends just so he could die on me too. I didn't mind. No one knew about the cancer back home and no one had asked. They hadn't written or looked me up, checked how I was asked about the new house. As if that part of my life never existed. Strangely enough, that was the part of my life I wanted to keep. The time when I was happy and I could feel bad for kids whose parents were in a turbulent divorce and I wouldn't think "Get a clue." The time when I could spend hours on a swing or racing snails because as far as I knew I had all the time in the world. Dad dying bought a lot of things into perspective, but none so much as the concept of time. The idea of there being an ultimate end for everything. That could depress some people, but for others it was just getting real.

I walked to moms bedroom door and listened, again there was no sound, so I walked to my bedroom to grab a book to read, it could be a long wait. I took one off my bookshelf and momentarily glanced out of the window onto the street it was then that I noticed that the truck wasn't on the drive. I stepped out of my room and into the corridor, knocking twice on moms bedroom door just to check. There was no reply so I carefully opened the door, her bed was made and empty. No note, no call. _Great._ I thought, walking out of the room and slamming the door. _No point in being quiet now anyway._ my head throbbed, the loud noise was not well-received by my hangover. She had to come back sometime, so I peeled all the post-its off the wall and placed them back in order down the entrance hall, awaiting her arrival.

I was able to pass another couple of hours by finally servicing the hangover that had been plaguing me all morning. I took some ice cubes out of the freezer and put them in a cloth, holding it to my head, reclining in a disused deck chair on the patio, trying not to think about what had happened the night before, the problem with my mom but also the almsot-kiss with Corey, that was going to be awkward. Just as I had gotten comfortable the doorbell sounded throughout the house, it was so quiet that I could hear it from outside. It was as if the whole world had a hangover today.

I sloped off the patio and into the house, still holding the ice pack to my head. Ruffling my hair as I yawned, walking through the hallway and opening the reveal Corey and Edward standing on my doorstep looking every inch the odd couple.

"Hi!" Corey waved brightly, "Man, that was lame." He chuckled, "I mean, who am I? Barney?" He laughed nervously, scuffing his foot across the floor.

"Who's Barney?" Edward asked.

"He's a kids entertainer." Corey said, "And...a purple dinosaur." He added, blushing.

"Oh." Edward said, snipping the topiary on one side of the front door. "Well, you're not Barney."

"Thanks, man. Big help." Corey said, sarcastically. Edward didn't pick up on this and just smiled back appreciatively.

"Right." I said, dropping the ice pack from my head. "So, um, why are you here?"

"Well, we-uh, we need your help for phase four." Corey said, he ruffled his hair and shifted position.

"Phase four?" I asked, I was too tired for games.

"Banana milkshake!" Edward said, enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and we know you have a smoothie-maker and you're hungover too, so we thought that we could wear off our hangovers together?"

"Um, yeah, sure." I said, standing aside in the doorway so they could come in. "Come in." Corey led Edward into the kitchen, where the easy listenign music was still playing, Corey looked at the post-its along the wall and looked round at me, I didn't look back at him. He knew that I had a lot of apologising to do. And Edward, well, Edward didn't even notice and I lagged behind.

"You have bananas right?" Corey asked, heading to the fruit bowl.

"Yup. Fruit bowl. Milk's in the fridge." I said, sitting down at the kitchen table. And watching Edward chop bananas and balance them on the blades of his scissors and dropping them into the smoothie maker on top of the kitchen counter. Corey added the milk, put the lid on and pressed the mix button. Edward jumped at the loud mixing noise.

"Oh yeah, Liv?" I looked up at Corey, "I got invited to a party it's over on Willow Way, I...thought you might be interested. It's uh, tonight, so I could pick you up at nine."

"Yeah, sure." I said, weakly, pressing the ice pack against my head again. It was so awkward, I felt bad for Edward, although luckily he was slightly preoccupied with the smoothie maker.

"Liv, can I have a brief word in the living room or something?" Corey asked, looking at me while nervously scratching his shoulder. I stood up and led him into the living room, perching on the arm of the couch. "Is it me, or is there weirdness between us?" He asked.

"No." I replied quickly, picking at the arm rest that I was sitting on, "Zero weirdness."

"Right. Yeah. Didn't think so. Stupid to ask. There's so little weirdness that the weirdness is in minus fugres, right?"

"Definately." I answered quickly, I heard the front door open and stood up, ready for any excuse to leave.

"But, like, what now? I mean do you want to maybe go officia-" Corey was interrupted by a scream from the kitchen. But it wasn't Edward.

I ran into the kitchen. "Mom?"

"Oh, so this was your surprise?!" My mother screamed, she was pale and clutching her chest, "Your-Your grand gesture?! A coronary?!"

"N-No,the surprise was the- the brownies and the flowers and I made you fruit salad..." I trailed off. "Mom, this is Edward, he's our friend, mine and Corey's, he only just moved here." I tried to explain, while my mother fixed him with a scrutinising glare. Edward stood, anxiously fidgeting and looking scared. "I'm sorry if he scared you. I..." Corey stood behind me.

""I'm sorry" Well, that's a phrase I've heard a lot recently but I see no evidence of it being true!" She shouted. I looked at my feet blinking back tears and biting my lip and she continued to glare at Edward. I felt terrible about the way she was treating him. Everything had gone wrong.

"Please, mom." I said, looking up, almost unable to stop the flood oftears that were impairing my sight. Corey put a hand on my shoulder.

"We were just leaving Mrs Henderson. I'm sorry for any inconvenience. We'll leave." Corey said, Mom always liked Corey, and this seemed to calm her slightly as she dropped her hand from her chest.

"I'm sorry too. I tend to scare people." Edward said to his feet. Mom giggled slightly.

"Oh, that's quite alright dear. The old ticker's just a tad frail in my old age." She smiled. her true politician streak was shining through and she was putting everyone at ease. All except me. I wished I was leaving with them.

"Well," Corey said, taking his hand off my shoulder. "I'll see you...soon." He said.

"Pick me up at nine." I said firmly, any excuse to get out of the inevitable thunderstorm that was brewing beneath my mothers smile. My mother raised her eyebrows. But I stared back at her.

"Okay." Corey said with a trace of uncertainty. "Come on, Ed." Corey said, guiding Edward out of the kitchen and down the hall.

"But we didn't complete Phase 4!" Edward said.

"Shut up!" Corey hissed, gently pushing him out of the front door and closing it behind him. Then it was just me and my mother left in the kitchen.

She fixed me with an unforgiving glare as I looked down at my feet and walked to the breakfast table.

"Eheh...Brownie?" I offered, holding out the plate.

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A/N: Party next chapter :P

xx.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This chapter will be written in about three sections all from different perspectives, just so we can get a real feel of what's going on in the story : ) xx. **

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Olivia

I softly stroked the mascara wand through my lashes again, unable to ease my churning stomach. Whatever happened that night would draw a firm line underneath mine and Corey's friendship, not to mention mine and Phoebe's, if there was even anything to draw underneath anymore. Fixing stuff seemed to be all I was doing lately, and it clearly wasn't my forte. Not knowing what I wanted to happen with Corey made me nervous, I couldn't even decide what I wanted, let alone control howit's going to happen or even what it is. I looked over to my side where the curling tong was heating up on the floor, I had already curled my hair, but in typical me behaviour I had to do certain sections again.

I put the mascara wand back into the tube and placed it onto the vanity unit I was sitting at, I looked deep into the mirror, knowing what I saw; it was nothing special. Why would Corey pick me over Phoebe? She's prettier, thinner, and more fun. She's not complicated or standoffish, and most importantly, she'd never mess with his head the way I have. I knew I was doing it, but not how to end it. I had to make a choice and either way he'd end up getting hurt, in the end. I guess I just thought that if there was no end, if nothing was finite no one could get hurt, but I think I hurt him more by leading him on.

I leant over the side of the stool and picked the curling tong off the floor, spinning my hair around it and waiting, holding it tight, finally releasing. Kind of like all all things, you spin and spin and spin until there's nothing more and then you hold tight for as long as you can, until it gets too hot to handle. And then you finally let go. For example, I span it out with Corey for as long as I could, unable to make a definate decision, and then I held tight, afraid of what I might lose. But I'd have to let go sooner or later, it was getting too hot, there's too much pressure. And at the end of it, you're either left with a curl - exactly what you wanted - or you have to start from scratch. I wasn't ready to let go yet, sooner or later though, I'd have to, and I had a feeling it was going to happen that night.

At that moment a heard the familiar double beep which meant that my ride for the evening had arrived and was waiting for me outside the window, where my lacy white curtains were fluttering gently. I pushed my stool away from the vanity unit and stood up, walking to the full length mirror that stood forbodingly by my wardrobe, waiting to give the final verdict. Wondering if my face had changed again as it seemed to every day now, very day a new freckle or darker eyes or just something different in me as I shifter deeper into someone I no longer recognised.

I brushed my hair away from my face and nervously drew in my stomach, wondering if there was any way my thighs could breathe in. I picked my bag off of the end table, at last satisfied. Stepping carefully downstairs in my heels and pullig down the denim mini skirt that was already riding up I wondered if there was any point saying goodnight to my mother. I hiked up the sweetheart neckline on the yellow top and poked my head around the door of her office where she was leaning over her laptop and typing furiously as if on the cusp of something brilliant. Deciding it was best to leave her be, I tiptoed out and down the corridor safe in the knowledge that we had discussed where I was going and the fact that it'd be easier if I stayed at Corey's for the night.

I stepped out of the door, mussing my hair, smiling broadly and waving to my escorts for the evening, one of whom blushed at my gesture. My smile was genuine and I felt a happy buzz rush through my stomach at the feel of it, as I practically bounced down the driveway.

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Corey

I dunked my hand back into the bag of chips, and shovelled them into my mouth, pouring more coke into my mouth, chewing on the chips at the same time, shaking my head violently until the coke fizzed and then swallowing. I smiled widely at Edward, who grimaced slightly, I couldn't help but chuckle at the pure disgust written across his face, curling his lip. I'd been so panicked about impressing Olivia with my punctuality that I'd left the house with Edward about an hour before necessary, which left a load of time to pick up junk food and caffeine, an excellent mix for a good night out. Although this had been my first party in months. I didn't go out anymore because that wasn't who I was. I used to be Corey - Party Boy Extraordinaire, but to a certain degree I was always looking for something more but I didn't know what it was that was missing. All I knew was that when I saw Liv in the cafeteria that day she looked perfect, and the closer you got to her the more you noticed that she was. I wanted to be perfect too, or I should've. Everyone wants to be perfect.

But Edward and I had arrived twenty minutes early, so we parked up oppostie Olivia's house and waited. "So, do you go to parties a lot?" Edward asked from the back seat, I smiled, turning slightly in the drivers seat to face the side window.

"I used to, not so much anymore though. You?" I knew it was a stupid question the second I said it adn wanted to swallow the words, take them back, or catch them on their journey and bury them like a dog burying a bone. Except I hoped I wouldn't find these words. He seemed to realise this too as he ignored my final question. We looked around for something to talk about, desperately clutching at straws. I peered through the side window and noticed that the light was on in Olivia's room. Her curtains were drawn back but the lace hung, swaying in the summer breeze, I could see into her room and see her doing her make-up, I looked away sharply, as if just by looking I had somehow violated her privacy. I'd never been to her room before, it was unknown territory, a line not to be crossed. I was fine with this, although again it was just another phoney excuse to keep something of herself secret, away from my prying eyes, as if she didn't trust me. I heard Edward take a deep breath beside me as I dropped my eyes down and drew my attention to the car panel in front of me, running my hand over the smooth, black finish.

"Why don't you go out so much anymore?" Edward asked as I heard his shift in his seat.

"Um," I floundered for a moment, unable to think of a reason. I sighed heavily, then glanced up at the window, Edward's eyes followed my glance up to the open dormer window, watching in uncomfortable silence as Olivia crossed the room. She moved so gracefully, as though she was floating on air. "Well, you're looking at her." I said, dropping my eyes again.

"Do you...miss the parties?" Edward asked uncertainly, like he was thinking he should have said something else, but there was nothing to say. Teenagers on the whole tend to leave the philosophy to philosophers, we go with what feels right, not what necessarily is. I felt a lurch in my stomach as I remembered the parties, the kegs, the vomit, the beds; I realised that a part of me still missed those days, the days when who you are didn't matter, just as long as you had fun.

"Eheh," I chuckled, "I guess so. What's to miss though? I've got my friends, I've got my junk food," I said, holding up the chips and rustling them emphatically, "I'm living the good life." I glanced down at my jeans and started to pick at a small hole, picked out the individual strings and feeling them unravel slightly, until I stopped myself by thinking of the image of entering my first house party in about a year in boxers, sneakers and a t-shirt. Back in the day I'd have been heralded a hero, wild man and I'd grab some sunglasses, kick off my shoes and dig it Risky Business-style. I was too tame for that now. Old at sixteen. I remembered the upcoming birthday headed my way at an increasingly alarming rate, wondering if I'd wasted time, I felt a tug in my stomach again, as if my body was now aware of my obligation to Olivia as well.

"And, um, how do you know she's worth it?" Edward said, I looked round at him from my seat and crinkled my brows, puzzled, he met my gaze, "I-I..." Edward looked down at the floor, "I just mean...are you sure you two are meant to be? Star crossed lovers and all that? How do you know?" He looked up again, his pink rimmed eyes staring at me, drawing out the truth as if lasooing it and attaching it to the fastest stallion, I had to answer quickly.

"I don't." I replied simply, Edward was silent, "But I hope she is." I added, quietly. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard, "Oop, it's time." I said, beeping the horn twice for safety, not daring to go to the door in case things had still not settled down. I looked up at the window, where I notcied Olivia walk to the window, look out at us then turn on her heel allowing her golden curls to bounce as she disappeared out of view for a minute or two. I took another deep gulp of Coke and watched as she stepped out of the front door, closing it quietly behind her. She turned to us and waved excitedly, grinning as she glided down the front drive. I smiled and chortled softly, looking away, my hair falling into my eyes, I flicked it out of my face with a shake of my head. Olivia pulled open the passenger-side door and sat. "Ready to partay?" I hollered.

"Sure thang." She said, biting her pillowy lower lip as she pulled her seatbelt across her body and clicked it into place. I put started the engine of the car and pulled away from the sidewalk, Olivia looked out the window and Edward looked at her in the reflection of the wing mirror, she was still biting her lip and she fiddled and fidgeted with everything she could reach and I wondered somewhat arrogantly whether her anxiety could be anything to do with me.

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Phoebe

"Okay, Pheebs, but I'm just warning you." Kaya's voice said down the crackly phone-line.

"He wouldn't do that. He was asked specifically not to bring her. And she's not...stupid." I said, the s-word stung on my tongue, I never liked to say it out loud. "Now, onto something that matters," I started, crooking my neck over to one-side in order to hold the phone to my ear. "Silver sequinned mini, or...like...something else?" I asked, holding the dress up against myself, still in my sweats after applying my make-up and doing my hair. I heard a creak from the doorawy which was reflected in my full-length mirror and swivelled round accusingly in my socks. "Sorry, Kay, can you hold on a sec?" I said, laying the dress gently onto my purple satin duvet and taking the phone off my shoulder, carefully covering the mouth-piece. "What?!" I spat, turning to face my seven year old sister who stood timidly in the doorway, afraid to cross the threshold because of my personal space rule.

"Mom and Dad wanna thee you in the den." She lisped. Eloise, master of speech impediments. Mom and Dad sent her to a speech therapist but I suspected she did it for attention.

"Well they can wait a few minutes." I said hurriedly, I picked the dress off the bed one handedly and held it up against my body again and wondered what was missing.

"Wow..." Eloise said to the dress, advancing across the room towards the dress and grabbing at the shiny object that now had her complete attention.

"Hey!" I said, yanking the dress from her hands. "Hands off. I'm wearing this tonig-" I paused for a second, unsure of what I had noticed, until holding the dress up to the light and examining the small, streaky handprint that had smeared across the front of the dress. I gasped and span my head to look at the pouting, freckled seven year old demon that perched on my bed, arms crossed, feet dangling over the edge of my bed. I stomped over to her and grabbed her hands roughly, turning them palm up to reveal purpley hands. "Jam?!" I shrieked.

"B-b-b-bluebewwy." She stuttered innocently, guiltily wrenching her hands away from my grasp and crossing her arms again. I screamed in frustration as she leapt off the bed and sped out of the room.

"Mom?! Dad?!" I shouted, thundering out onto the landing, "That little stain has ruined my dress!" I leant over the landing banister, waiting expectantly for a reply or some description of justice for the poor dress who had hurt no one. There was a long pause, I leant further over.

"....Phoebe?" My Dad's voice called casually from the den. "Can we see you for a moment?" I stomped downstairs, wound up by the cheerful tone he possessed in the face of my ill fortune.

"Certainly father." I said, with a mockingly peppy tone as I bounced sarcastically into the den. Where my mother and he were snuggled up on the terracotta couch in front of the fire, clutching mugs of chamomile tea, as was their after work ritual.

"Phoebe." My Dad smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he took his loafers off the coffee table. "We just want to make sure you are aware of the rules." He said calmly, sitting up straight of the couch, my mother sat up also taking a deep sip of her tea as I crossed my arms and glowered at them impatiently.

"Rules," My mother started, "Which we would be pleased you respected." My mother said kindly, tilting her head to one side.

"How about this rule?" I started, "Keep your spawn away from my clothes!" I barked.

"Phoebe, that's a seperate issue and will be dealt with once the issue of your safety has been reolved and we have complete peace of mind about this little shindig." My father said, smiling. I groaned and was sure that he knew how much he annoyed me as he tilted his head to one side the same way my mother had and crossed his arms across his lavender sweater. My father had a certain manner, he was carefree, bright and cheerful. He had shiny, mousy brown hair and delicate framed recangular glasses which he liked to adjust over his blue eyes when he was talking to you; he also liked to crossone angle across the opposite knee and display his omnipresent loafers which could not be dragged off his feet unless at work or a social gathering, which to my embarassment he sometimes requested my mother to put them in her handbag so he could change into them later.

"Go ahead." I gave in, as my mother placed her mug carefully onto a pastel polka dot coaster on top of our glass-topped coffee table, ready to take over. I got my strawberry blonde hair from her, which she had teased back into an endearingly scruffy ponytail and brushed against the collar of her cropped yellow cardigan which she wore over her yellow flower patterned summer dress with wedge heels. She dropped her hands into her lap and clasped them tightly.

"Your father and I feel..." She began, gesturing towards herself and Dad. I rolled my eyes.

"Jenny dear, please don't bring me into this. If I had my way I'd still be watching the cricket."

"Martin." She said firmly, turning to look at him, "This needs to be talked about." He nodded with chagrin, and reached for his newspaper, rustling it loudly and holding it in front of his face to read it, as if protecting himself from the whole lecture. I wished that I could steal the broadsheet from him and curl up in it, because I knew what would be coming next, "You may be getting to the age when parties aren't necessarily "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey-and-don't-forget-to-take-a-piece-of-cake-as-you-leave" parties. They're more..." She trailed off searching for the right word.

"Beer fueled adolescent pill-popping sex fests." My father finished for her, his expression hidden by the large newspaper which rustled as he turned the page. My jaw dropped, now I wasn't prepared for that.

"Dear God." I stared at them incredulously as my mother reached for a small see-through zip-lock bag, through which I could see condoms and many other miscellaneous objects of which I didn't know their names. "Mom, please." I begged. "Stop."

"Honey, we want what's best for you. We know that you're a sensible girl but you're...easily lead," She reasoned. _Damn right_, I thought, It's just a shame they weren't giving this lecture at the last party I went to, I probably would've thought twice about going all the way with Lawrence. I admitted to myself with shame and regret.

"There's, um, a drink tester in there, so that if you leave your drink for a prolonged period of time you can test it for rohypnol and other such...things." She said, I could hear the shudder in her voice as he voice broke from her mortification. "In fact," She said more confidently, "I got about eighteen," My father cleared his throat from behind his newspaper, "And there's Pepper Spray..." She opened the zip-lock bag and took it out, placing it by her side, "Mace..." She took another aerosol out.

"Yeah, mom, I have Kaya on the phone, I left her on hold. So I'll..." I pointed towards the door with my thumb.

"If you could take these it would really put out minds at rest." My mom said, Dad lowered his newspaper and looked over the top, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I'll - okay, I'll take the pepper spray, ok?" I bargained.

"And...?" My Dad prompted.

"And a couple of drinks test strips and _one_ condom." I said firmly as my dad blushed and retreated back behind his newspaper.

"Marvellous," My mother said, crinkling her freckled nose with joy and smiling, "Now that's all over..." She began, "There's blueberry pie in the kitchen." She smiled, as I glared back snottily and thought of the poor dress. It was back to the drawing board for outfits, as usual I had to make up another one using whatever I had around.

I climbed the stairs wearily and when I entered my room again I was unable to look at the dress which I felt I had failed somehow. I could hear a small voice coming from the phone, "Phoooooooeeeeeeeeebeeeeeeeeeee! Pheeebs! Phoebe!!" Kaya shouted down the phone.

"Hey, sorry, I got kidnapped by the parents." I said, shuddering at the memory. "But I think the sequinned dress is out the window." I said sadly.

"Nevermind, huh, Pheebs? You always think of something, everyone always says you're so fashion forward." She said, proudly. Little did she know that all these cutting-edge ensembles were the resulty of having my planned outfits ruined by my jam-handed sibling. "But, back to more pressing matters. How are you gonna deal with seeing Lawrence again?" I sat down on the bed.

"I dunno, he- Well, I am NOT talking to him again. The pig. Rrrgh!" I said with frustration, pacing the room and flicking my hair, which to my delight was soft and shiny.

"And there's Olivia there too - a.k.a. Olivia Puketon Whore," She jibed, laughing at her own cruel joke which played on the name of Olivia Newton John, who I personally loved in Grease, of course I only fully understood it after Kaya explained it to me. Twice.

"Hmm." I said, not fully comfortable with the name-calling, even if she did deserve it. I walked across to my wardrobe, ducking underneath the hanging veils and fairylights which hung along the ceiling of my room. I opened the door and flicked through all my clothes which inevitably either had stains or were too casual for tonight. The only clean thing that was remotely possible for tonight was an old white concert tee from the seventies, which was about five sizes too big and too long to go with jeans. Then I had an idea.

"What if I said I had an idea to get back at them both?" Kaya said cunningly.

"Hm?" I said, confused.

"Olivia and Lawrence!" Kaya said impatiently.

"Oh, right. Yeah?" I said, picking the necessary items out of my wardrobe and tossing them onto my bed.

"Well, I was thinking we could tell Lawrence that Liv likes him, not Corey." I listened carefully, "Then, he starts making the moves, we slip a little something in her drink, which will make his charms a little hard to resist," She snickered maliciously, I leaned against the one closed door of my wardrobe, shocked. "And then, Corey and Olivia both get mad at Lawrence and Lawrence exposes Olivia for the evil little slut she is." She waited to hear my response but I didn't reply. "I know, it's a little harsh, but come on, Lawrence humiliated you and Olivia is a backstabber! Speaking of which, do you still like Corey?"

"Well, he's cute, but...no." I said truthfully, "I never really liked him that much, I had a crush on him sure. But if she had said she wanted him then I wouldn't have got in the way. But she didn't," I said, suddenly angry, "She went behind my back, knowing it'd upset me, meeting him without me and all the while "Oh, I'm not really into any of the guys at school, not my type."" I impersonated her voice nasally and then scoffed. "I just...I can't believe she's turned into such a...lying, bitchy, manipulative, man stealing..." I could hear Kaya holding her breath for whatever derogatory insult I would use next as I searched my mind for the right word to insert into the end of that sentence, but most of the words that came to mind were far too harsh, or just not harsh enough. "...Skag." I finished anticlimactically. I could tell from the sigh at the other end of the phone that Kaya was hoping for something a tad more extreme, or offensive.

"Right." She said, "So we'll exact your revenge tonight, right?" Kaya asked leadingly. I kind of guessed I didn't have much of a choice in this. And even if I did, it was another matter whether or not I would choose that option, there was a part of me that wanted to see both of them hurt, I wondered if I could do that to someone. On the other hand, I knew for damn sure that Kaya could.

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**A/N: Tell me what you think, I hope you've enjoyed it. **

**I spent a lot of time on this chapter to get it just right although Phoebe's section was slightly rushed, I hope you can't tell. But I am still quite proud of this chapter : )**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or alerted or favourited, it means a lot : )**

**- REVIEWS ARE LOVED -**

**xx.**


	11. Chapter 11 Part I

Phoebe

Kaya gasped, "You. Look. Awesome." She grinned at me, her eyes absorbing in my outfit to store in her mind. She stood, exuberantly in my doorway, her arms splayed out in a "ta-da" pose, wearing a silver sequinned mini dress. _Huh._ I thought.

"Aw, thanks. I wasn't really sure..." I smiled twirling to show off my outfit, silently fishing for a compliment, for which Kaya is a deep well. I wore the old white concert tee, ripped into a v-neck and worn as a mini dress, a tight black waistcoat, black heels and a black trilby hat. The only colour being my eyes, which I had accentuated with dramatic sweeps of sparkly green eyeshadow, which I'd smudged out.

"You're kidding right?" She laughed, "Sweetie, you are so hot-rock-indie-british-chick, and in SUCH a good way!" She patted my arm and smiled broadly.

"You look great too!" I said sincerely. Kaya twirled quickly in her sky high heels and clapped her hands together with delight. Kaya could pull off wearing a potato sack, her ultra tanned legs and long curly black hair meant she was always cente of attention. And being with her meant that I got to be a part of that, I liked it.

"Wanna grab your bag? Chris is waiting in the car." She leant back out of the doorway and blew a kiss to Campbell who was sitting in the front seat of his black convertible on the street in front of the house. Only Kaya was allowed to call him Chris. He must have blown a kiss back because she caught it in mid-air and giggled, air kissing him. I rolled my eyes silently, grabbing my bag and checking my hair in the mirror. My bangs lay along my lash lines and my hair was styled staight and hung down to breast level. I couldn't resist winking at myself in the mirror, as if exchanging a pact with myself. _You will have a good time tonight._ I spared a thought for the parties with Corey and Olivia and chewed my lip, blowing my bangs out of my face. They'd made their choice and it was for each other, not me. Then I took a deep breath and put myself back into perky gear, clearing my throat loudly.

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" As I headed for the door, my mom poked her head out of the living room.

"Be safe, honey." She winked, with a grin. I groaned, why did she always have to humiliate me like this? "And, um, remember what we talked about, yes?" She said significantly, as if making sure I knew what she meant, even though I certainly did she made a drinky-drinky motion.

"Night, Mrs Murray!" Kaya smiled, classic parent kiss-up that she was, it was lucky that she could pull off the innocent look. She tried to look wholesome, while twisting an eviable curl round her fake-nailed fingers. I bustled out of the doorway and closed the door before Mom could say something else that might possibly make me want to curl up and sleep through high school. "Gawd. I love your mother." She grinned, "So, what'd ya talk about...?" She teased. I replied by narrowing my eyes and gently pushing her off the front step on the porch. "Hey, she's funny, you can't deny that!" Indeed I couldn't, everyone else seemed to get a good laugh, even at the sister who jam-handled my clothes. God only knows where she finds all that jam, the jam is omnipresent on her hands. Stupid, sticky kid.

"Pheeeeeeeb!" Speak of the devil. "Ph-eeeeeb!" My sister called from her bedroom window which overlooked the yard. "Lemme say goodbye!" She said, retracting her head from the window, to reveal two purpley hand prints on the window frame where she had been leaning. Knowing that a jammy, outfit-ruining hug would be imminent I turned to Kaya and began to shove her down the path.

"Run! Run!" I murmured through my grin as we swiftly, but clumsily teetered down the driveway to Chris's black convertible, an Audi, with the top down. Campbell sat, ever so cool in the drivers seat as the engine purred softly in the background, he lay one hand on the steering wheel, while the car was priming to purr into the night. I smiled broadly, hopping over the back doors and landing heavily on the cream leather seats. Kaya opened the passenger-side door and sat down comfortably, leaning across the gear stick to exchange a kiss with Campbell as my sister appeared in the doorway. "Drive, man, drive!" I jokingly instructed as he nodded and put the car in Drive. "For reals." I said seriously. "And you're gonna need to pick up the pace 'cause she'll follow for a few blocks!" I chuckled. I noticed Campbell smile softly in the mirror at my joke, adjusting his sunglasses, and turning up the music in the CD player, perky pop-rock, just what the doctor ordered, I leaned my head back along the top of the seat and closed my eyes. Campbell accelerated quickly and the tyres squealed on the street. I wished I could take back my "Pick up the pace" comment because he was a risky driver at the best of times. I pulled the seatbelt across my body and prepared myself to fear for my life as we sped down the street.

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Corey

Olivia and I stood on the front porch of the big house. The music was already blaring and the party was in full swing. The door was half open and we could hear the raucous partying from within. "Do you, uh...?" Olivia asked, gesturing towards the door.

"Nah, ladies first." I said, removing an imaginary hat from my head and mirroring her gesture towards the threshold.

"No really, you go first." She suggested, "Maybe, um, warm up the crowd for us?" She joked, although I guessed she was nervous as she pointed her thumb towards herself and Edward, who was trimming the rosebush near the front prorch.

"Sure." I shrugged confidently, trying to put her at ease, pushing the door open fully and stepping into the grand house, where there was a big staircase and tiled floors, a huge entrance hall. Clearly the party had already gotten started as I noticed an old friend from my English class vomit into a potted plant. Parents. They don't know what they agree to when they allow a hundred or so high school kids run riot into their house. "Hey!" I announced, this was met by a series of unexpected cheers as everyone came over to greet me in various states of inebriation, sloppy high fives and pats on the back galore as I was shepherded into the old lions den, looking back over my shoulder as Edward and Olivia hovered in the doorway, exchanging an anxious giggle and giving awkward "I'll be fine!" waves. Chang and Watson herded me through the wide corridors, littered with plastic cups already to where Campbell was standing with Kaya and Phoebe at the kegs. Oh yes, kegs plural, which meant that this party really would be carnage as I noticed four or five silver kegs, next to a collapsible table piled up with alcohol of every description by the patio doors which led out to the-_wow, pool deck. Awesome. _

Campbell must have noticed my prying eyes as he said. "Awesome place, huh?" My words exactly, before I even said them. He reached down to the nozzle on the keg and poured a beer into a plastic cup. "It's all about location, my friend," He grinned and offered me the cup.

"Oh, I can't, I'm driving." I said, shaking my head, leeting my eyes wander onto the deck again.

"Dude, dont be a pussy." Campbell said through gritted teeth in front of the others, I raised my eyebrows at the sting and looked away for a second before reaching out for the still outstretched beer and taking a large gulp of beer, locking eyes with Campbell as he smirked with satisfaction. "Alright, that's what I'm talking about." Kaya stepped forward, a little too close for my liking.

"So, Corey, did you bring any..._friends_?" She asked sharply, raising one eyebrow and pursing her lips. I looked over her shoulder at Phoebe who was looked into her plastic cup, clearly a little uncomfortable at her friend's bullish attitude. I half-smiled and scoffed, looked away, but she continued to look up. "Because, when Christopher invited you," I chuckled at Kaya calling Campbell "Christopher", "It was...kind of a closed invitation."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said mockingly, "Next time I'll ask before I invite my friends to another one of your little tea parties." I knew that mocking the party would persuade Campbell to change the subject.

"Dude, this is far from a tea party." He said, shaking his brown hair.

"Prove it." I said, provoking him.

"Well..." He thought for a second, "Check the rooms upstairs and tell me they do that at tea parties." He smiled smugly.

"Maybe at your mom's tea parties." I laughed, he scowled for a second and then laughed too before punching my shoulder. Lawrence walked over to us slowly, winking at some freshman as he did so. None of us knew quite what Lawrence had that we didn't, but there was a kind of brash honesty in his attitude to the girls he flirted with, they knew what they were there for in his eyes. He swaggered into the group.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" He said, staring at Phoebe. Granted she did look great, but something told me that wasn't what the prolonged stare was about as I looked over at Phoebe who stared determinedly at the ground. Lawrence seemed to get a kick out of the way she couldn't quite meet his almost ebony eyes. _Oh._ I thought, as the penny dropped. I felt a twinge of pity for Phoebe, she had become a member of, if possible, the least exclusive club ever made, made it onto the most pitiful list ever written, a victim of a "hit-and-run". _That's gotta hurt_. I felt the urge to step in front of her and shade her from his penetrating gaze, I wished I had distracted myself from thoughts of Olivia long enough to protect my other best friend too. I didn't always like her that much, at first I was only friends with her to get to Olivia, a deed for which I still felt guilty.

"Campbell was just telling Corey about what's going on upstairs." Watson laughed sleazily.

"No shit." Lawrence grinned. "Upstairs?" He pointed to the stairs and raised a dark eyebrow, "Okay, who wants to go peeking?" He grinned. Watson and Chang laughed and stepped forward. "Corey? Campbell?" He offered, "Plenty of doors to go opening." He said as he winked again.

"Uh, no. Christopher does not want to take part in whatever sleaze-ball activity you're planning next, Lawrence." Kaya said, narrowing her eyes mercilessly at Lawrence, who seemed unfazed as she put Campbell's arm around her waist.

"Corey?" Lawrence asked. "Nah, I'm good, I gotta go find Liv anyway." I said.

Lawrence scoffed loudly, "Dude," He said pointing at me and Campbell. "One word: Whipped." He then turned on his heel and led Chang and Watson on their quest for action. Chang and Watson shrugged apologetically for Lawrence's behaviour but walked with him anyway, with giggly anticipation.

"You say that again and it'll be your last word, Lawrence!" Campbell said loudly after him. Lawrence didn't turn back but instead flipped Campbell the bird over his shoulder. "That kid needs to get some manners." Campbell growled. Kaya wound herself tighter into his body with both arms around her now.

"Oh trust me, he will." Kaya said cunningly as she exchanged a glance with Phoebe. Little did I know how right she was.

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Olivia

Edward and I stood in the entrace hall now, everything moving except us, as if everything was in fast motion. We looked in opposite direction, both staring at the unfolding chaos as kids vomited into cupboards and smashed ornaments. He breathed in as if to say something, I looked over expectantly, but no words came from him.

"Um, want to get a beer?" I asked stepping out of the way of a freshman girl who had one hand over her mouth and was running in the direction of the nearest cupboard. He nodded, smiling slightly awkwardly as he made his way through the hallways, scissor-hands by his side, trying not to hurt anybody, it was a miracle that no one was noticing him. Then again, they were all pretty wasted by now which was probably for the best. We walked to the alcohol stand inconspicuously, unnoticed, and I picked up an innocent-looking beer and attmpted to open it, but the metal ring broke off. I sighed and put it back on the table, selecting another.

"Let me." Edward said shyly, puncturing a large hole in the top of the faulty can. I smiled gratefully.

"Thanks." We looked into each others eyes for a moment before I broke the bond between my own green eyes and his dark ones to pour the beer into a plastic cup. I felt a hard tap on my shoulder and turned around quickly, my beer sloshed in my cup.

"Olivia?" Kaya said, "A word?" She glanced at Edward but didn't notice his hands, but her lip curled anyway. "In private?"

"Uhm, yeah." I said, sure that no good could come of this.

"Let's walk and talk, right?" She asked, holding a coke and something in her hand she looped her arm into mine and smiled, leading me out the pation doors and onto the pool deck, which was dark, lit by the underwater lights of the pool which helped to cast bright blue water shadows accross the walls of the house "I appreciate that Corey's cute right? But, like, why'd you do that to Phoebe, I thought you were friends?"

"I'm not with Corey." I said quickly, "We're not together."

"But he wants you to be." She said slowly.

"I dunno." I said, looking down at the ground at my heels made their way across the pool deck and began a circuit around the pool alongside Kaya's sparkly ones. I felt the eyes of boys from all years at our school, and some from out of school follow us on our walk.

"That wasn't a question." She said knowingly, "He does and you know it. You had the choice not to go for it with him or to at least let him down, but you chose him, I mean, you get why Phoebe's pissed though?"

"Yeah," I said, "I've been a terrible friend, I know that and I feel awful, really, but what am I supposed to do now? I'm not going to go for it." I said, trying to reason with her, she was being suspiciously understanding. She sat down on a deckchair at the far end of the pool, putting her legs up and stretching them out in front of her luxuriously as I stood awkwardly off to the side and tugged on the hem of my denim mini skirt, praying that the prying eyes would stop.

"Well, then good for you." She said, brusquely, tapping the deck chair beside her. There were no others around and no one could hear our conversation. "But just so you know...Corey's not likely to settle down." She put her drink on the deck and I followed suit.

I cleared my throat nervously, "W-What do you mean?" I asked, perching on the end of the deck chair beside her.

"Well, all I mean is...you know what he was like before you came on the scene, and..." She giggled, "A few months after. I'm not saying he's incapable of being in a stable relationship...but, you know, guys have urges and I don't think you'd be the one to..." Kaya cleared her throat, "Satisfy him." I blinked at her, surprised, but then caught myself.

"Well that doesn't really matter to me. He's just a friend to me...he knows that." I said.

"Is he though? Does he know that he's "Just a friend"?" She said, taking something out of her bag, and reaching down to her drink, I looked away at the unsettled surface of the pool. She leaned back up. "Maybe you should think about that." She rose to her feet and brushed down her dress and began to walk back to the house. I did the same. "Oh and..." She turned on her heel to face me. "Don't forget your drink." She smiled, "It's such a waste when people do." She turned and strode back through the open patio doors. I picked up my drink and started to follow before I saw Phoebe crossing the deck quickly, looking worried. She exchanged a glance with Kaya and smirked confidently as she walked straight towards me.

"Pheebs, listen, I'm so sorry...for everything. Corey has got completely the wrong idea and so have you." I began to explain, Phoebe looked over her shoulder to where Kaya was standing, leaning back against the french doors, watching carefully. Phoebe turned back to me with a pained expression on her face. "Ar-Are you okay?" I asked. Her face hardened and her lips pursed. _Oh no._ I thought in anticipation.

"Never better. But you..." She said pointing at me, her brow furrowed for a fraction of a second before any trace of it vanished. "You back-stabbing whore...you won't be."

"Pheebs. I'm so sorry, please...forgive me." I pleaded. She ran one hand through her hair looking distressed until she looked down at my drink, suddenly focused. She snatched it quickly out of my hand. "Bite me." She snapped, throwing the drink and all its contents into my face. There was a series of hisses and "Ooooh"'s from the party-goers situated around the pool, committing the scene to memory so they could gossip with friends about it later. I gasped for a second and wiped the beer out of my eyes, but when I opened them she had already turned around and was storming off with one hand clutched to her head. Angry tears stung my eyes but I fought them back, like I always did and chewed my lip. I brushed the loose water beads off my face and took a deep breath which shuddered from the smothered sobs.

I walked back inside, the eyes of everyone boring into me as my path dripped beer on the deck. I breezed through the patio door, soaked, but no one in here cared. They were all three sheets to the wind. Drunken teens who couldn't give crap about the sopping wet girl chewing her lip to bite back the tears that prickled her eyes.

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**A/N: The next chapter will be Part II of this one.**

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**And if it helps, I'll give you a shout-out next chapter if you review this one ;)**

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	12. Chapter 11 Part II

**A/N: Second part. I hope you like, but I might be redoing the previous chapter because I wasn't overly happy with it. This chapter is for Rhian who I know has been reading from the beginning : ) x**

**Also special thanks to CheeseDreams for all the reviews, they've been most appreciated :)**

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Phoebe

I turned my back on Olivia and left, feeling so guilty that it felt like my stomach would collapse in on itself. Throwing the pastic cup over my shoulder as I did so, for added effect and walked to Kaya who was stood by the double patio doors, watching the scene unfold with a sickening expression of glee on her face. It was times like these that I hated her for what she did.

"Now, don't you feel, like, SO much better?" She asked, smilingly, linking her arm into mine and shepherding me into the kitchen.

I chuckled nervously, "Haha, yeah..." I said unconvincingly, though luckily, Kaya did not pick up on it.

"Now, for phase two of our little scheme for revenge." She said, unlinking her arm from mine and rubbing her hands together mischievously.

"Right." I said, knowing that I had purposefully botched phase one, "What was that again?" I said, distracted by the plastic cup of beer I was now knockimg back with lustre.

"We tell Lawrence that she's into him, she ends up sleeping with him, looking like a total slut and he gets punched in the face by Corey and then you do the honourable thing and point and laugh at both of them." She smiled.

"Hmm." I grunted non-commitally.

"Hey! Hey Lawrence!" She said, I looked up and saw her waving to him accross the room. He was talking to a freshman girl, who was unintentionally falling into the honey trap, at first it's all eye-contact and "You're beautiful"'s and the next thing you know you're yesterday's news. Little did she know.

He was making his way accross towards us, looking at me, as he always did from under his dark fringe. I looked away and started to drink deeply from my cup. At least I knew Olivia would never go for it with him, at least she'll be okay.

"Hey, Lawrence..." Kaya said, sweetly.

"Yes, Kaya?" He replied, still looking at me, I was becoming really uncomfortable, but I refused to meet his eye, because I knew that if that happened at some point I'd have to look away, and that would give him control again.

"I know someone who likes you..." She teased, brushing his arm flirtily to steal his attention, but it didn't work, instead he continued to stare pointedly at me.

"You don't say..."

"Olivia." She said, grinning, "She really has a thing for you, plus she'd go for anyone who's not Corey at the moment. I'm thinking you should go for it. She's a pretty sure thing." She giggled.

"Maybe I will go for it." He said, I looked up this time. "I mean, if no one here has any objections then I might just walk over there and turn on the charm, huh?"

"Go for it." I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Fine. I will."

"Fine." I replied quickly. He turned to walk away.

"Enjoy!" Kaya called after him happily before clapping her hands together and dragging me to the dancefloor to dance with her.

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Olivia

I strode furiously to the corner of what I assumed to be the dining room, though all the valuable china had been wisely removed from the stands that were still scattered around the grandoise room. The dining table was pushed against the wall on the left to allow room. I stood in the double doorway which led through to the kitchen where a girl was vomiting heavily into the sink as her boyfriend wore a repulsed expression and held her dark hair back while she gripped at his shirt, her knuckles white matching her face which stared pitifully back at him.

Suddenly inspired, I headed to the drinks table for a little liquid courage and ladled some of the lethal looking punch into a plastic cup, holding it to my nose. I sniffed it and immediately drew back, it smelt like paint thinner. I gritted by teeth and threw back the punch, grimacing afterwards as it burned down my throat. But I relished the sting and threw back another and another, until the room was pleasantly fuzzy, the edges blurred like an old photograph, my head span and everything seemed to move faster than I did. I blinked heavily, trying to focus my eyes with no such luck.

"Hi." Corey said, surprisingly, hovering beside me, then again, everything appeared to be hovering. I hadn't seen him approach and I stumbled slightly. He raised an eyebrow. "How're you faring?" I glared at him in response and then turned back to the centre of the room where people were now dancing, writhing and shaking to club music I didn't know the name of.

"Well," I began, unexpectedly coherent, "I feel like I've been smothered in barbecue sauce and dropped into the lion enclosure." Corey laughed sympathetically. And then stared down at my chest, his eyebrows raisingly slightly.

I was about to ask what the hell he was ogling at when he said, "So, um, what'd you do? Enter a wet t-shirt competition or something?" He joked, I looked down at my beer soaked top and remembered my humiliation on the deck, now much more upset, an effect, I assumed of the alcohol. My bottom lip quivered pathetically.

"No." I said clearly, grinding my molars, "Phoebe." I said, spotting her through the double doors into the kitchen laughing with friends, I pointed accusatorily.

"Ah." Corey said, shoving his hands deep into his pockets, feeling guilty, hopefully for the rift he had caused between me and my best friend.

"But it doesn't matter," I narrowed my eyes, "Because I," I shoved my thumb into my chest, "Have the moral highground." I raised my chin. "And she can pour as many drinks on me as she wants, because she will get her comeupance." I noticed her break away from the small group of friends she was entertaining. "Right now." I said, throwing my empty cup on the ground.

"No." Corey said, holding my arm, I shot him a warning glare. "Come on, just leave her alone, she's had a tough time too." He said pleadingly, clearly knowing something that I didn't, but I didn't care. My bra may have been showing through my shirt but I still had my pride.

"I just wanna ask why she's being such a bitch." I casually slurred, pulling away hard and stumbling slightly, I was more drunk than I had realised. I swaggered quickly into the kitchen where Phoebe was walking through to the living room, calling after her, ceratin she could hear me. "Hey! Phoebe!" I finally caught up with her when she met a dead end in the dark living room, lit only by fairy lights and the lights from the DJ panel where I finally realised where all the music was coming from. Couples were scattered accross the furniture and floor in similar states of disarray. "Phoebe." I said firmly, tapping her on the shoulder.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice wobbled, I was caught off guard by this.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I don't want Corey, I mean, why would I want him?" I asked, reaching out and using her shoulder for balance, but I saw her look apologetically over my shoulder.

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Corey

"I-I'm sorry, I-I don't want Corey." I blinked slightly as I stood behind Olivia and felt the almost irresistible desire to walk away, but where to? "I mean, why would I want him?" I saw her lean on Phoebes shoulder now. Phoebe's eyes met mine, saying silently that she felt my pain.

"Um, ouch." I said loudly, as Olivia whipped round, only now noticing I was there, her eyes were bleary as she turned back to Phoebe.

"I mean..." She thought for a moment, trying to clarify. "Why would I want to do that to you?" She asked poking Phoebe on the shoulder.

"I don't know." Phoebe shrugged. "But to be honest, I don't think you've been yourself recently, look at yourself. You're a mess. I'm standing up for myself, okay? And I've waited too long to get some self-respect, I won't let you just wreck my life, as much as you try to!" She said tearfully, sniffing.

"I-I-I'm not!" Olivia stammered, but Phoebe was already walking away, almost bumping into Lawrence who put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes from under his lashes, seeing his chance.

"Phoebe? You okay?" He asked, feigning concern as I clenched my fists and stepped forwards, standing next to Phoebe who had already stepped back from him, the proximity too much of a memory and was looking away, ashamed.

"She's fine." I said firmly, still unsure if it was my place to be the one sticking up for her, if she even wanted anyone to help or if she'd let me. She looked back at me gratefully and I put my arm around her shoulders. Lawrence eyed my arm carefully, looped as it was around Phoebe's delicate shoulders.

"Hey, Corey. Where's Liv?" He asked daringly, his eyes sparkled devilishly, though I wasn't sure what he meant by this. Only sure that I needed to help out Pheebs. I just glared at him and there was a moment of testosterone fuelled silence until he walked away, shaking his head. Phoebe and I stood in awkward silence, until I realised I still had my arm around her. I removed it and then it hung feeling heavy now that it wasn't resting on her shoulders.

"Phoebe. I'm sorry too. It was never meant to be like this." I said, looking down at her, for once realising how small she was. I stood at 6"1 and her at only 5"5, average height for a girl but still dwarfed in front of me. Looking deep into her eyes pleading. "I still want to be your friend, you know we've had good times. I don't want to give that up."

"Me neither." She mumbled.

"So, if things are still bad between you and Liv, well then you and I can meet up and, I dunno watch a movie, just like the old days, except minus one. And you can meet Edward." I grinned at the thought that she hadn't met him yet and imagined the familiar shriek that I knew so well.

"Edward?" She asked cautiously, though I didn't know whether or not to take this as a truce between us.

"You'll find out." I smiled as I tugged away from her by Campbell. "Woah." I said, stumbling. "What's up?" I turned round to see Phoebe walking away again.

"Dude, have I got a present for you." Campbell said mischievously. I grimaced apprehensively in response, "Seven minutes in heaven, and I mean _heaven_." He grinned.

"Man, I told you-"

"I'm just trying to help you. And trust me, this will help." He winked, my curiousity was now fully aroused and I followed him to what I assumed to be the den. Where he showed me to a closet. "She's in there." He said, gesturing towards the door. _She? Olivia? _He smiled at me and gestured again. I slowly reached out to the gold door knob on the pine door, ready to shed light on whoever was waiting for me, but before I saw anything Campbell had yanked the door open and pushed me inside. "Don't try to spoil the game!" He shouted through the door, "The not knowing is half the fun." And I knew perfectly well what the other half of the fun was.

It was pitch black in the closet and the only light seeped in through the crack at the top of the door, and there, illuminated by the light from outside was a series of loose golden curls. Olivia's golden curls. I felt a hand reach out to me from the dark and softly brush my arm, although how she could see me in the darkness was beyond me. "Hi..." I said softly, reaching out to her, and brushing her bare shoulder with my hand as I reached to gently stroke her face, but she reached me first, brushing her hand along my jawline and tilting down my chin to hers. Her pillowy lips softly massaged my own and she pulled her body in closer. I never expected her to be so forward, but in the disguise of darkness I guess we all become someone different. She was kissing me heavier now and grinding her hips against mine, before I knew realised what she was doing she had slid her hands down my side and onto my zip, pulling it down. I tried to step back to back away but my back was pressed almost hard against the wall and her hands were still sliding down, I gently pushed her back, running my hands through her soft hair. This wasn't how I wanted it to be.

She backed away and let out an impatient grunt, I pulled her close again and pushed her soft hair away from her face and held it at the nape of her neck. For a second, we were just together, no words, no actions, no thoughts, bliss. I stooped my shoulders and leant down to kiss her again, she didn't push forward, but let me lead, as if we were in a slow ballroom dance, a feeling which increased as I moved my hand down to her waist, the music still thumping outside along with both our heartbeats, which we could feel as our chests pressed against each other.

She kissed me softer now and I couldn't help myself as I slid my hands around her waist and gently up her ribcage as I leant down to kiss her. She moaned softly and I smiled as familiar memories formed in my mind and a smile crossed both of our lips, it was electric. Her hips rubbed against mine again, both of us I could feel were lost in the moment when I softly grazed my hand up the thin thigh that, along with its partner, was snaking its way around my hips, lifting herself lightly onto my hips. I felt the denim of her jeans create rough friction against the palm of my hand. She giggled in a strangely cliched coquettish fashion.

She was now firmly positioned with her legs wrapped round me and her arms encircling my neck as our lips collided repeatedly, each time sparks flying between us. I ran my hand up her ribcage and up to her chest, it was then that I realised that her shirt wasn't beer soaked as it should've been and that Olivia, my Olivia, was not wearing jeans. My stomach dropped as I realised what I had been doing. I panicked, fumbling slightly, but still kissing the stranger, unable to control myself. I was weak. At that moment the door opened loudly and spilt light into the closet. I shaded my eyes and could see Campbell smiling triumphantly.

Puzzled I turned to the pretty, blonde haired freshman who untangled her body from mine hurriedly and was blushing and tidying her hair beside me. I felt a cold wave of guilt wash over me quickly walking out of the closet, trying to pretend it hadn't happened. Even though the contact, the proximity and the heat was still pulsing through my veins. I knew as soon as I saw Olivia the closet goings on wouldn't feel electric anymore, but sordid. But in truth I loved the buzz, every second.

I continued walking swiftly away. Although I had some masochistic need to find Liv, as if looking for confirmation of what a terrible person I was, or worse, an affirmation of what I already knew. In that short period of time, I had fallen out of love with her. And the fact that it could happen that quick made me wonder how strong my feelings were in the first place. But knowing this already I was still looking for her, for a reason I couldn't explain, but just a desperate need to get things over and done with. Or maybe just a need to double check, triple check or quadruple check, give love a chance, because for all I knew, Olivia was my only shot at it. I scoffed out loud as I passed the patio doors leading out to the pool side, _If feeling this shit is what "my shot" is, well then I don't think I want it. I was fine before and I'll be fine again._

I threw back a full cup of beer that was sitting harmlessly on a mahogany unit in the corridor which led to the living room, crushing the plastic in my hand and throwing it on the floor, smiling as I realised that Olivia would have dissaproved. What freedom I now possessed, _I can drop plastic cutlery wherever I please! The world is my oyster, and I can throw that oyster too! No, I'm getting carried away. _I thought euphorically.

I took myself and my refurbished attitude towards the den. My stomach dropped as I saw the two people who I never expected to see together in the corner, one of whom I never expected to be in a corner with anyone. I wished that I still had my plastic cup to crush, I would have done it with twice as much force as I had before, but instead I balled my fists tightly and turned to leave. _How could Olivia do this to me? And with Lawrence? _I stopped myself mid thought, why did this matter to me? I had already established what Olivia meant to me. That girl was nothing but a nuisance to me. Thing was, seeing my nuisance cosying up to someone else was like hearing a cat bark, it wasn't right to me. I was nothing without nuisance.

Lawrence caught my eye from accross the room and smirked, though Olivia hadn't noticed, she was sitting side saddle on his lap, oblivious the torment Lover-Boy was inflicting. I gritted my teeth as he cocked his head to one side, faking innocence I doubted he'd ever had. She kissed his neck and a shiver went down my spine. I had no control now, I had to stop this.

I crossed the room towards them, trying to appear relaxed on the surface, though inside I was writhing, as if my heart wanted to rip out of my skin and run away. _When did I become such a girl?_ "Liv?" I asked, standing a safe distnce away from the torturous exhibition. "I think it's time to go." I tried to act amiable, hoping that Lawrence would take the hint - _I'll play nice if you will._

"She doesn't have to go..." Lawrence said with a lopsided smile, tilting her chin up to his and kissing her again, "If she doesn't want to..." He drew away faking good humour that was not in his nature and looked up at me from his seated position in a cushy armchair. I felt my jaw clench, my molars were having a tough time of it tonight. I laughed hollowly.

Clearly different tactics were in order. I leant forward and gently took Olivia's arm, attempting to help her to her feet in case she was having trouble. "Get off me!" She said sharply, swivelling to face me. I pulled on her arm a little harder.

"Come on, Liv...It's getting late, your mom is gonna get mad." I tried to be reasonable.

"I don't want to go yet." She said, over-pronouncing each syllable as if I was stupid and didn't understand. I inhaled deeply, not sure who of them I wanted to punch more.

"Liv." I said firmly, but she stared back defiantly.

"Maybe I want to hang out with my new buddy Lawrence, ever thought about that?" She asked, directing her attention back to Lawrence who smirked smugly and put his arm around her shoulders, she pursed her lips.

"Don't make this difficult." I said, this was a warning. But she still glared at me, petulant, like a child. I pulled her up by her shoulders and away from him, she stumbled and stepped back, furrowing her brow. She wasn't just drunk, she was bombed, I imagined that the ground must be moving beneath her feet. "Please." I said, holding her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes. I turned to guide her away when Lawrence grabbed my arm hard. Ouch. I shot him a warning glare and he seemed to take the hint, he broke eye contact with me and looked down, shaking his head.

"Screw this." He said, I scoffed loudly and continued walking away when I heard, "You know what? Screw you! You suck, man...you..._suck_!" I dropped Olivia's arm.

"You wanna take this outside, Lawrence?" I asked threateningly.

"Are you from the 50's or something, Summers?" He mocked. "Oooh, can I be the bad guy, pretty please?" The other party goers in the room laughed, I had barely noticed them before, but now that there were twenty of them laughing at me I couldn't notice anything else. I roughly grabbed the neck of his t-shirt and pulled him towards me, my fist was already pulled back and our breath was hot on each others faces. "You wanna hit me, then hit me." He whispered. I let him go and he took a step back, out of fist reach. "You couldn't let me talk to her could you?" He spat. "You had to be the knight in shining armour, rescue her from my clutches."

"Who?" I spat back, puzzled.

"Phoebe!" He shouted back.

"Oh please!" I yelled back, "Quit with this, will you? We both know what you wanted from her, I was just trying to protect a friend!"

"Oh yeah, because it's just not even within the realms of possibility that maybe I haven't been able to stop thinking about her?" I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off, "But oh no, Corey's the only one who feels above the waist round 've hurt her already."

"So it's your turn is it?" I asked sarcastically. "I'm her friend and I look out for her, end of story. And you better stay the hell away from her." I grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt again. "And Olivia." I growled, grinding my teeth. I dropped him once again. "You got lucky." I said under my breath.

"Well, I might have if you hadn't come along!" He said, baiting me.

"What the hell did you say?!" I asked furiously. "Don't you fucking dare talk about her like that!"

"What happened to you, dude?" He said, furrowing his brow. "Bro's before ho's?" I didn't dignify that with a response. "Someone took a one way train to whipville."

"Dude," I said, "Grow up." And I turned on my heels and left, pretty chuffed, up until I saw Phoebe waiting at the doorway, looking confused. I kept my head down and shepherded Olivia past her. I couldn't explain all that now. She knew as much about how I was feeling as I did. In other words : Zip. I guided Olivia over to the staircase by the den and sat us both down. "So this party's pretty much over for us then, let's just get Ed and go home." The party was now winding down anyway. I noticed Liv look over my shoulder, but then, her eyes were pretty crazy tonight anyway, she could barely keep them focused. I began to get up, but Olivia put her hand on my shoulder, softly pushing me back down into a seated position.

"Corey, wait." She said softly, before suddenly leaning in and kissing me. Her lips tasted like the bottom of a keg but I relaxed into it as I had gotten into it, she pulled back, and looked over my shoulder, this time I turned round, only to see Phoebe looking directly at us, looking upset. I turned back to Olivia, who was smiling smugly. I stood up to get away from her, confused.

"You...I-I-Did you-?" I asked, unable to string a sentence together. I finally managed to say, "Moral highground, huh? Let me ask you, is it cold and dark down where you are?"

"Oh whatever." She slurred.

"Liv, you have just ruined it." I said, she looked blankly at me.

"Ruined what?" She hissed.

"Our first kiss, Liv! You've ruined it!"

"Corey, will you stop being such a girl?" I gritted my teeth and dragged her to her feet by her arm.

"Edward?!" I shouted loudly three times, before I heard him come clinking and clunking round the corner. Looking at me expectantly. "We're leaving."

"Thank God." He said, with relief.

"I don't want to go" Olivia said.

"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?" I said, dragging her back to my SUV, ready to drive her home, because funnily enough I didn't feel like having a girl who openly used me to hurt my friend staying in my house. I didn't even want to be near her. I nearly left her at the party, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Afterall, I still loved her, just.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading, I know it's been forever since I last uploaded. But I hope I got it just right, I'm pretty happy with it. **

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	13. Chapter 11 Part III

**A/N: It's been a while uploading and writing it, but thank you to everyone who's sticking with it and hasn't lost interest, it means a lot. x**

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Corey

I softly pushed my emotional assailant down the path of the large house and into the SUV while Edward followed closely behind me. I opened the back door for Edward, he stepped in tired. So was I, but for a different reason.

"Oh, the silent treatment?" Olivia bit, her arms crossed as she swayed on the spot next to my car, but I wasn't in the mood for negotiations anymore. I scooped my arm under her legs and let her fall into the other arm, I placed her in the back seat, next to Edward and pulled the seatbelt accross her body as she glared at me. I raised my eyebrows at her, unfazed and slammed the car door behind me, walking round the front of the car to the drivers seat and hopping in.

"Corey, should you be drinking and driving?" Edward asked, the hint of concern ringing in my ears. He was right though.

"Oh, so you want to walk accross town with Lindsay Lohan over there?" I snapped back. "Besides, it's dark." I said, as I turned to face him in the backseat. He stared back with a hurt expression on his face. "Fine." I said, reaching to the glove compartment to grab my flashlight. "Let's go, Trudie."

"She's called Olivia." Edward pointed out unhelpfully.

"I know." I said, shining the bright flashlight into his face and watching as he blinked and shaded his eyes. "I was talking to you." I pulled my tired body over the seat and out of the door, and then opened the backdoor for Edward and Olivia, I pulled Olivia out and shone the flashlight at her. "You might want to get out of those shoes." I said, gesturing at her feet with the light from my torch. She stared back at me defiantly. "Okay." I smiled maliciously, "Your funeral."

I started to lead them on the long walk home and took great pleasure looking round to see Olivia tottering on her heels on the gravel of the drive and stumbling slightly as Edward tried to prop her up with his elbow. I looked at the time on my phone, which illuminated my face, damn, 2.30am. So curfew's out of the question. Time flies when you're being screwed over.

Soon the sun would be rising and setting a red glow to illuminate our journey, but Olivia's mom would be up at around five thirty, yes, even at the weekend. Apparently she's part baker and part milkmaid. So time was of the essence to get Olivia back home, I knew that things were already tense at home and as much as I could hate her right now, I didn't have the heart to make things worse - "Hey, princess?" Olivia called, "How 'bout you slow down, my feet are frickin' killing me." (We had been walking for a total of five minutes, if that) - Or maybe I did have the heart after all.

"How 'bout you take off those ridiculous shoes?" I jibed.

"How 'bout you take off your face?" I turned back to her and crinkled my brow.

"Um...good one?" I said, giving her a weak thumbs up.

I turned and continued to trundle on, managing to cool my temper in the next twenty minutes of silent walking whilst Edward trudged behind us, clinking and clanking in the darkness while my flashlight cut a path for us through the wilderness. We were walking through grass now and I was quite sure that I didn't know where we were. I stopped and shone the light around us. There were high trees around us and we were all standing in a large field of grass, when I heard a loud "moo" from behind me. "Shit!" I shouted, swivelling round to see a group of cows who had inconspicuously done the pincer movement behind us as we walked and were now blocking the gate which led down the narrow country path that I hadn't realised we were walking on. I groaned and approached the cow, secretly wondering which was the leader. "Come on...cows." I said, waving my flashlight. "Shoo!" _Wow, that came out in a higher pitch than I had thought it would_. I made up for this femenine noise by saying "Mush!" In a very masculine voice, and then I realised that I could be singing The Locomotion wearing fushia lipstick and it wouldn't make any difference to what Olivia thought of me.

"Do you know where we're going?" Edward asked, timid as usual.

"Yes." I replied firmly. "No." I admitted.

"So, now what?" Olivia slurred as she sat down, cross legged on the grassy ground.

"I'm gonna call Campbell." I said, reaching into my pocket and taking out my phone. This action was met with an unappreciative groan from Olivia, but I began dialing anyway. I smiled, but it faded when I looked over at Olivia who was retching into the grass. "Oh, God, what is wrong with me?"

"Don't open that door." She laughed, before retching again and collapsing backwards into the long grass.

I held down the call button but it rang straight through to answerphone.

"Shit." I dialed Phoebe's number without thinking, able to memorize after all the times she had called me and her number would pop up on the screen, I'd just learnt to recognise it. It was ringing, which was a good sign, but I attempted to shift the cows with another talking-to. "Mooo... Mooo! Go! Moooo-"

"Hello?"

"Phoebe, hi."

"Oh, Corey, what's-what's up?" She said, slightly uncomfortably, I could practically hear her twisting her strawberry blonde hair through her fingers.

"Uhm, I'm kind of lost. I need some help, we're stuck in a field with scary cows." I explained, looking over at the cows who seemed to be glaring at me.

"Yeah, sounds terrifying." She replied unconvincingly.

"Hey! You're not here, you don't know! Look, I don't even know where we are." I said.

"Well, what do you see?" She asked.

"I'm in a cow field." I shone the torch around the field, revealing more of the field.

"Well, duh. What else?"

"There are pine trees and...I can see a church steeple." I said, letting the light from my torch glint off the curch steeple.

"Kaya?" I heard her call out from the other end of the phone, "Do you know where there are pine trees, cow fields and a church steeple?"

"Around here?" I heard Kaya reply, "God...um, ooh, there's Poyle farm? Is there a windmill?"

"Is there a windmill?" Phoebe relayed for me. In response, I shone the flashlight around madly, illuminating nothing but trees.

"No."

"No." I heard her repeat to Kaya.

"Okay, then it's definitely Poyle." Kaya replied. I furrowed my brow and wondered why Kaya even asked.

"Okay, the party's grinded to a halt here anyway. I'll get Campbell and Kaya and we'll come to pick you up okay?"

"Cool." I said as she hung up. I sat down in the grass beside Olivia, leaning back on my elbows and placing the flashlight beside me on the grass, not on the side she had been yakking into though, that would have been gross. Edward followed my lead and sat as well, but further away from us and he trimmed at the grass with his scissors. I wondered if he preferred it back at the old house on the hill, as he never seemed to be having much fun around us. It was always unnerving how often he was quiet. But in comparison to Olivia's behaviour tonight Joan Rivers could be called quiet.

She was lying down now, and her face was bathed in the light of the moonlight, her golden hair catching the light perfectly, her eyes closed. I fought back the temptation to push a bit of hair out of her eyes, she probably wouldn't thank me for that. I shone the torch down the narrow country lane from which we'd come. I hadn't noticed how picturesque it was, there were embankments on either side with trees that grew on the edge and curved over the path, creating a tunnel effect, leaving the walkers buried under a canopy of foliage. No wonder it had seemed dark before. I imagined how different that walk could have been with Olivia had it been any night but this. On a sunny day, everything in bloom, everyone and everything glowing, swathed in summer light. She'd smile at me from in the shade and I'd smile back. _Get real, Summers._ I could almost hear her say as I looked back over at her, she seemed paler, so much more debauched and grey, no light radiating from her like in the country lane. But the country lane wasn't reality, this was. Much to my disappointment. The reality of loving someone who hates you, the reality that you might just be a sucker for a beautiful face, nevermind the truth that it masks, ready to bamboozle the unwary, the shallow.

I lay back onto the cool ground and rested my head in the grass, waiting for Phoebe to arrive, get this night over and done with. Draw a line under it. I silently wondered about tomorrow, tonight had changed everything but how I didn't yet know. Would I feel different in the morning? Would she? I slid my eyes shut, locking out the moon and all it's light, until there was nothing but darkness and I drifted into a light sleep.

"Summers!" I heard a deep voice hiss in the darkness. "Summers!" The voice hissed again, my eyelids fluttered in response, but felt too heavy to lift.

"Corey!" Phoebe's light tone drifted across the field. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, laughing out loud as I turned to the source of the noise, only to be confronted by the sight of Campbell standing up with Kaya and Phoebe in his convertible, the headlights shining through the wall of cows that had formed at the mouth of the country lane. I jumped to my feet and jogged across the hard ground to within a safe distance of the cow wall.

"Corey, make them move!" Phoebe hissed.

"Uh-huh, yeah, I'll just whistle for the cow-poke and we'll be on our way." I said in my best hick accent, Phoebe glared at me, though I took this with a pinch of salt because we both knew that the accent was dead on. Campbell beeped the horn loudly, which was met by an unappreciative moo from one of the cows.

"Get some...some bait! And lead them away, then run back and get in!"

"Aw, that's a shame, I think I left my emergency cow feed in my other pants." I replied.

"What do cows even eat?" Kaya asked, examining her long nails.

"It's like...maize or something." Phoebe answered.

"They don't eat maize!" Campbell laughed.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I mean, who do you think I am, Hannah Montana?" She repied bitterly, sitting back down in her seat.

"Why would she know?" Kaya asked.

"She's from, like, Mississipi or something." Phoebe ventured, "I dunno." She slumped dejectedly back into her seat, folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"Shhh!" I said, as I heard the rumbling of approaching car tyres. "There's someone coming!"

"Hey maybe they have cow food!" Kaya quipped.

"Oh...shit." Campbell said ominously as he lowered himself into his seat and opened the glove compartment to find a mint, popping it back in his mouth, this could only mean one thing, cops. Kaya fumbled in her clutch bag for a moment as the tyres crunched closer on the dirt path.

"Here!" Kaya said, thrusting a copper coin into Campbell's face. Campbell pushed it away hurriedly.

"What are you doing?! Everyone knows they don't work!" He crunched, grinding the mint into his molars.

"Do it, Christopher!" Kaya hissed.

"Oh for fu-" He groaned, shoving the copper coin into his mouth, gagging slightly. "Kaya," He started calmly, "This tastes like shit."

"Oh stop being such a woman."

I quickly ducked down behind the cows. As the car stopped behing Campbell's convertible, the lights not glowing.

"Well, well, well." Stated a familiar voice as a door opened, "What _have_ we here, Campbell?" A shoe grated on the ground and another door opened, followed by three more footsteps. Two people. _Wait, Campbell?_ I stood up from behind the cows confidently.

"Well, from here, Johnson, it does appear to be Campbell in his bitch-mobile." Mocked another deep voice, as the two male police officers stepped forward.

Campbell's older brother, Ryan, legend at Brand High for his partying ways and wild shenanigins, hadn't got the grades at the end of high school to go to college, so, rather than repeat the year, he decided to turn cop. As a result of this, back in the day, Campbell had afforded us quite a few lucky breaks, something which made him even more of an idol to me.

"Dude." Campbell laughed, "Do not do that! I was chewing a frickin' penny!"

"Man, everyone knows that does _not_ work." Campbell responded by loudly spitting the penny out onto the dirt path. "Little brother, did you just litter?"

"Why, no, you must have been looking at me through your _blind eye_." He winked.

Johnson shone his torch around the field, focusing on me. I squinted and shielded my eyes. "My, my, my..." He said. Clearly he was starting all his sentences in threes this evening. "Corey Summers, as I live and breathe." Seriously, this guy is a cartoon.

"What's that, partner?" Ryan called over.

"Dude, that sounds...so gay." I laughed, attempting to step through the wall of recalcitrant cows.

"Summers! Thought you were dead." He smiled grimly.

"Oh no, I'm still alive." I said, looking behind me at Olivia who had gone very still. Then she spluttered slightly.

"Woah, woah, woah." Johnson said, shining the torch over again, "Whatcha hauling back there?"

"Just some friends." I shrugged innocently.

"Summers, you dog!" Ryan exclaimed, "Do you have some young filly back there with you?" He approached the bovine wall and crouched to observe the scene from under the cows. "No wonder we got called here on a disturbamce of the peace, you two rockin' the kasbah, huh?" I heard a very audible snort from Campbell and I glowered at him. Ryan shone the torch around until he fixed on something, his eyes wide and fell back with shock, "Woah...what the..?"

"Oh that's Edward, a friend of mine." I explained quickly before he could grab his pitchfork.

"Why is he...?"

"He's not human, listen can you move these cows?" I said quickly.

"Sure thang, buddy." He said, Edward aready forgotten as he headed back to the car, to look for something, no doub the police regulation cow scaring device. Ryan pulled out a gun casually and shot it into the air, causing a resulting stampede as the cows scattered, Edward jumping up suddenly. I ran back to Olivia, dutybound to make sure she hadn't been trampled. I lifted her back into my arms. Her light body hung limply, luckily for me. And Edward followed as I ran to bridge the gap between the bovine bullies and our only route of escape.

"You guys want to get in the cruiser?" Ryan asked, gesturing towards it. "It's the end of the night we'll take you where you want to go."

"That'd be great." I said, sliding Liv into a seating position on the back seat, batting a lock of crisp vomit-covered hair out of her closed eyes. I turned back to Ryan. "So is.. this all okay, the police side of it?" I asked nervously, scraping the ground with my foot, I never liked to ask these kinds of favours.

"Consider it forgotten, the old farmer didn't want to press charges anyway, he just wanted you off his land, worried about you scaring them, souring the milk."

"Dude, they soured _my_ milk. They're_ mean _cows!" I protested. He gestured back to the cruiser and Edward and I hopped gratefully in.

"So, where'd you want to go to? Yours?" Ryan asked as he stepped into the drivers seat, and his "partner" followed suit.

"Uhm, no, hers I think, that's 25th and Morton."

"Ha..ha..haa." Johnson laughed slowly.

"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled. Johnson turned round and glared at me.

"No blaspheiming son, you're dooming us all." He growled. I sat back in my seat and rolled my eyes petulantly. We pulled out of the drive and split from Campbell's convertible. It took only a matter of minutes before we were on Olivia's road, we had been so close to it all along and yet we'd thought that we were lost. Irony, you gotta love it.


	14. Chapter 11 Part IV

The police cruiser rumbled to a stop infront of the big white panelled house, the one with the long front path and immaculate hedgerows, the one I would always remember, for better or worse.

"This one?" Ryan asked turning back in his seat towards me.

"Yeah," I said, still mystified as I stared out of the window at the house, illuminated by the stark early morning sunshine which was filtering through the thick trees. "Thanks, man." I said, opening the door quietly, I heard an audible retch come from Olivia.

"Dude, no offence but get her the hell out of my cruiser, I'm the one who has to clean it!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Sure, sorry." I tugged under her underarms trying to pull her out of the cruiser but her heel was stuck, tangled around Edward's seatbelt. I tugged hard again, but she wouldn't come loose from her entanglement. "Ed, untangle her please." I said sharply, tugging still as I heard her retch again and Ryan widened his eyes at me, Ed attempted to unravel the seatbelt with his elbow. "Ed! Now!" He hurriedly lifted her leg out of the hold of the seatbelt and stared in horror at the deep, red gash he had created on her calf. Edward recoiled and I pulled Olivia free and out of the car, putting her arm around my shoulders and dragging her into a standing position beside me.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," I growled, Edward pulled himself out of the cruiser through the door I'd left open and made to follow me, while I started down the long, straight path to the front door. "Stay here." I said, Edward pushed the door closed with his elbow and the police cruiser rumbled away fast. I kept walking, leaving Edward standing at the end of the path, willowy and dark like a shadow cast by the rising sun, I heard Olivia's heels scraping on the path as she groaned. "Where's your key?" I asked her, her eyelids fluttered.

"I dunno." She slurred in reply as we approached the big, pretentious, white framed door.

"Great." I said, rolling my eyes as I rifled through the ridiculously tiny bag thing that hung from her wrist. Lipgloss, sure. Cellphone, sure. But one tiny key? No. Apparently that would've made the bag too heavy.

"You're not supposed to look in a lady's handbag, you know." She slurred again.

"This isn't a handbag," I said, holding up the miniscule clutch to my eyes, "It's a...pouch." I let it drop back to my side, dragging Olivia still up the long path to her house, it seemed to be longer, afterall I suppose that every other time I'd tread this path I'd been excited and happy, looking forward to something. But walking to the big white door this time, I was crushingly aware that there was no way this night could redeem itself. "Besides, you're not being very lady-like tonight."

"It's rude." She continued to protest.

"Well, I'll save my manners for when you get yours." I said, finally nearing the door of the intimidating white house, collosal and stately. The sun was rising over the other tidy houses, Olivia, of course lived in one of the best neighbourhoods in town, no one was up, they were probably waiting for their butlers to bring them breakfast. I propped her up against the front door, though I could see her slender legs struggling to support her, by happy coincidence I remembered the day I had walked home with Olivia and she had forgotten her key, we'd laughed and joked as she fumbled under the ceramic pot that held a blue, leafy shrub, taking a moment to look around I located the shrubby leaf plant and tipped it to one side, peering underneath, covered in woodlice which were frantically scattering was a little silver key which I retrieved triumphantly, shoved into the lock and twisted quickly, catching Olivia as she almost fell through the doorway.

"Goodnight, Liv." I said hollowly, watching as she stumbled towards the staircase. Clambering up oafishly, so different from her usual graceful stance. _Thump._ She'd reached thesecond floor and was huffling to her room, bumping into furniture as she went, there was one final large bump before everything went still. "Liv?" I called quietly with no response, cautiously edging up the stairs to check whether or not she had choked to death on her own vomit. Crossing the corridor, I peeked round the corner of the room I never saw. Olivia was lying on her back, very still and limp on the pink duvet. "Liv?" I whispered from the doorway.

Coughing in response she turned her head to look at me, "Just leave me alone, Corey." She sniffled and curled into a ball on her side, golden hair strewn across her face which was ashen and tired. "This is all your fault." She sobbed.

"How? How is this my fault?"

"You and your stupid schoolboy crush - " I opened my mouth to interrupt, "Are the reasons I lost my best friend, in a way...both of them."

"Liv, you never lost me." I said, still in the doorway, holding myself back. Looking so small as she sniffled on her bed I had every temptation to go to her side, cradle her in my arms and try to make it okay.

"But I did!" She cried. "What was I supposed to do? Go out with you when I knew Phoebe liked you? Or do what I did, ignore you and end up with both of you mad at me?" She looked me directly in the eye. "How dare you put me in that situation, Corey? That's not love. That's you, you being selfish."

"I only ever wanted to make you happy." I said quietly looking down at my feet as she propped herself up, suddenly glad I'd stayed in the doorway.

"No." She said, flatly, "You thought that I could make you happy. I can't do that. And by-by doing this, you've compromised everything, between us and Phoebe too." For someone so shockingly drunk she was making to much sense, I pressed my head against the doorframe, still not looking in. "Just - You've done what you thought you needed to do, it hasn't worked. Can't you just drop it now?"

"It's not that easy." I said, finally looking at her, she stared up at the ceiling and scoffed bitterly, retching and coughing. I rushed to her side propping her into an upright position and thumping her back, resulting in her splattering vomit down the front of her top. "Oh God, Liv." I needed to find somewhere wehere I could prop her up, and she could cause less damage to her soft furnishings, I could see the sun coming up still and knew that I had little time left, I looked around as I lifted her, I'd found the place.

"Get off me." She growled, suddenly angry, hitting me with not enough force to do much damage, she retched again, this time hitting me directly in the chest. I pushed the en-suite bathroom door open with my foot. Wielding the punching blonde through the door, finally placing her in the bath tub. I took off my vomit stained shirt, delighted to see that the sick had seeped through and created a subtle sheen across my abs. Great. She struggled in the bath, tryingto hit out at me, I leant back, scowling at her and turned on the cold water faucet and watched as she shrieked and flailed with the kind of sickly satisfaction that could only come from a moment of fleeting vengeance.

I heard something stir next door and quickly snapped out of it, picking up my shirt, I rushed to the window sliding it open as I gust of cold morning air hit me in the face, I almost threw myself out of the window with the force I used but I held on firmly to the white wooden trellace that I knew was there, I climbed down a step, hiding my head as I heard light footsteps dash into the room and into the bathroom.

"Oh, Olivia." I heard her mom's disappointed voice drift out of the window. "What have you done now?" Her voice cracked slightly, and I frowned picturing her face, upset and disappointed, the same way my parents used to look at me, raw regret.

"I'm sorry, mom." I heard her slur sleepily.

"It's okay, darling, come on, we'll get you dried off." I could hear her helping Olivia out of the bathtub and start to help her across the room when Olivia began to sob again.

"Shh," I heard her soothing, "It'll all be okay." I climbed further down the trellace until I hit the grass. I only wished the same thing could be said to me as I walked away back to Edward to begin the walk home, shirt in one hand, while my heart was in pieces in the other.

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**A/N: Reviews are loved **

Xx


	15. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'm thinking about writing a sequel to this, and the idea has formed in my head already, leave me a review letting me know if you'd like to read the sequel or if you'd prefer to see it all in this fanfiction.**

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Phoebe

I pulled my hair back into a high-ponytail with the hair tie on my wrist, I'd slept with it on and grimaced at the thick red band it had created as I removed it. Yawning loudly I braced myself before I stepped onto the cold, white kitchen tiles. "Haa, haa, cold!" I yelped, taking a seat on one of the wicker chairs round the table.

I buried my head in my hands for a second thinking about last night's debacle. I groaned as I remembered walking across the foyer, I was looking for Olivia, calling a truce. But as I peered out of the living room there they were, if a moment could figuratively slap you in the face this would have floored me. And then she smirked me, actually smirked. I growled and slammed my fists onto the table angrily, then grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl on the table in front of me.

And Lawrence, well, Lawrence boggled me entirely, he seemed to like me so much at the party last night, and then not so much as a phonecall? I scraped at the orange peel with my nails. No one else was awake yet, Eloise had woken up at six am as usual, wired on life, so my parents had no choice but to take her on the Sunday morning hike, which meant they'd walk up a mountain and then give her a horse tranquilizer. The house was silent apart from my various grumblings, the phone started ringing, so I picked it up from the kitchen counter.

"Hello?"

"It's me." Said a quiet voice on the other end of the line.

"Corey," I replied flatly, "What do you want?"

"To see you."

"Sorry, you have the wrong number, this is _Phoebe_, not Olivia."

"Come on, Pheebs, we really need to talk, I don't mean to invite myself but...can I come over?" He asked somewhat hopefully. I sighed heavily in response.

"Fine, whatever." I heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. "Hold on a sec, there's someone at the door."

"I know." He replied as I opened the door and there he stood. "So um, we need to talk."

He said, hanging up his phone, I put my phone on the end table beside the door, increasingly aware that I was in sweat pants and a very clingy tank top I crossed my arms. Corey ran his hand through his hair while the other was deep in his pocket. I soundlessly lead him through to the kitchen and then out into the back garden, I breathed deeply, smelling the scents of various flowers which were chaotically spread everywhere, I lagged slightly as we reached the middle of the garden, and Corey overtook making a beeline for the porch swing which swung slightly in the light breeze which rolled in quietly, Corey flopped down on the swing, making it swing violently back and then forward just once until he stopped it with his feet. Wordlessly I sat down beside him.

"I know that there's every chance this won't make even the slightest difference to your current distaste for me..." He cleared his throat, "But I do have to say it, you know, if not for your benefit then please,for mine, just humour me, okay?" He looked down at his knees and then back at me from under his lashes, "I...have been stupid and selfish...I-I see that now, I'm so sorry." He blinked at me genuinely. "But," He started again, "I need to...do you...still...me?" He murmured.

"That made no sense, but if you meant what I think you do then..." I looked away from him and then chuckled softly, "First of all, that's a pretty arrogant assumption, but..." I paused, wondering what to say next, truth be told I hadn't given him much thought, but I knew what the right answer should be, regardless of - "Sorry, Summers, you missed the boat." He smiled with what I thought to be relief, a part of me sank but I smiled back at him anyway.

"Shame." He grinned.

"Oh I know," I smiled back weakly.

"And I'm sorry for embarassing you last night, with the whole Lawrence thing, it was..." He trailed off quietly.

"Stupid." I finished firmly, "And forgotten." I continued, letting a smile softly cross the corner of my mouth, while he looked down again, biting his lip. It reminded me of last nights betrayal and my half smile disappeared fast and I brushed my bangs out of my eyes frowning. "On a seperate note, you and Olivia, where's that going?" I asked, trying hard to regulate my clipped tone.

"Well, in short, um, it's not. She's..." He sighed heavily.

"A bitch?" I joked, sort of. He laughed, throwing his head back slightly.

"Aha, yeah. No...she's just not interested. Shoulda guessed." He smiled, but this time sadly and somewhat lopsided. "And Lawrence?" He asked.

"God, I don't even know."

"You're too good for him Phoebs," Corey said seriously. _Just not good enough for you_, I wanted to say, looking down. "You're not - you don't have anything in common."

"What do you have against him?" I frowned. Knowing truthfully that he was the best I could do.

"He's a jerk! And believe me when I say this, he's no good for you." He looked into my eyes, taking my hands from my lap and holding them in his, staring intently at me, I wanted so badly to cross my arms, or play with my hair, anything to help me shrink back away again. I pulled my hands away.

"Well, no wonder you're friends with him, it sounds like he has so many redeeming qualities, I said drily.

"I never said he wasn't cool," I defended, "Just, you know, you can do better." He said, looking into my eyes again, but thankfully not taking my hands again.

"Hm," I said.

"Seriously," He said, bringing his hand up to my cheek, I didn't mind so much now. He leaned in slightly, then looked down as if unsure of himself, my heart hammered loudly in my chest, like the wings of tiny btterflies which were frantically fluttering around my stomach, which I sucked in instinctively to crush them. And then he kissed me. _No stopping the butterflies now_, I thought.

***

Olivia

A shiver ran down my spine as another cool summer breeze rolled down the street fluttering through my chiffon top, I crossed my arms and continued walking. What would I say to Phoebe? How could I possibly articulate every thought I had going through my head, how could I explain me and Corey? Every feeling, every emotion, every moment was like a getaway car moving so fast but cut off before you know whats going on. How could I tell her that whatever he meant or didn't mean to me, my best friend would always mean more?

I brushed my hair behind my ear again. I was heading to Phoebe's first, given the circumtances I thought it wise to give Corey a little room to cool off, so for the moment I would just have to lock him away in a box and place it just to the side, along with every other thing in my life I couldn't deal with. To be opened at a time where I could finally gain some closure or perspective, but if it was going to follow the example of the other things locked away it could be there forever, collecting dust and slowly rusting until beautiful things are tarnished and the ugly things don't matter anymore, ignored to the state of insignificance.

I reached Phoebe's house and looked up to her window where it was open and the purple voile curtain was blowing through. I thought of Corey again, I just wished everything was the same as before, lines drawn between three friends are better blurred, or else the three friends just might seperate completely. And then a shiver ran through my spine again, but I wasn't cold.

***

The doorbell rang three times, suddenly the trance we were in was broken and then everything was horribly, earth shatteringly clear, Corey looked down at me, his eyes widened slightly before he looked away and got so quickly off the bed he almost leapt.

"Oh my God." I whispered sitting bolt upright. Corey had his back to me now and was rapidly pulling his clothes back on.

"Your parents?" He asked breathlessly, with a hint of panic. My Dad may have seemed gentle and laid back but Corey could guess that he wouldn't take to kindly to knowing what we'd just done. He pulled a t-shirt over his head as I grappled around for my clothes which were strewn across the messed up purple sheets and satin duvet.

"No. They'll be out all afternoon." I replied, quickly, knowing my luck it'd be the vicar come for tea. Corey pulled his t-shirt over his head and the doorbell rang again.

"I'll, um, get..." He pointed to the door and walked quickly out, mussing his hair, he stopped near the stair banister, turning back just once to face me, his eyebrows furrowed, before shooting down the stairs like a bolt of lightning. I couldn't help but wonder if on m face I wore the same disorientated expression. I was then hit by a massive wave of guilt as I pulled my tank top back on. _"Another boy who wasn't your boyfriend and you just slept with him. Slut." _a snide voice in the back of my head said. My eyes stung as I slipped my sweats back on. I sloped out onto the landing, in that moment I felt so small and guilty, then I heard Olivia's voice drift up the stairs.

"Corey? What are you doing here?" And the feeling trebled. I walked down the stairs slowly, terrified that anything I did or said would tell her everything.

"We're just hanging out, what do you want?" I asked, I would have been more severe, she deserved it, but given what I had just done, my tone was slightly more sympathetic, I had now, walked down the stairs and stood behind Corey just to the side so I could see Olivia.

"I'm a bad drunk, what can I say?" She tried to laugh, but it sounded pained. "I'm glad both of you are here, please, just hear me out. I know I don't deserve it and I've not shown it all the time but you two are really the most important people in my life and it's wrong that I've hurt either of you."

"Yeah, it is." I confirmed frowning at her. She looked down at her feet and placed one hand on the doorframe as if to steady herself.

"Phoebe, you're my best friend..." She pleaded, reaching out to me past Corey.

"You're a bitch." I murmured, though she heard it clear enough. "Before you can say it, it's not just about me here, you hurt both of us with your...game-playing and you're manipulating us now with your stupid act, "Oh, I'm Olivia, I'm so innocent, I never hurt anybody" You're not better than me, I'm a good person." I said, more for my benefit than hers, my temper now flaring hot. Corey turned to look at me.

"I know that, Pheebs."

"Don't "Pheebs" me." I snapped.

"Phoebe, please, stop it, you know how sorry I am! And Corey, you're one of my best friends, any impression I gave you or...whatever, I just didn't want to hurt you. I thought it was what you wanted. I just wanted everything back to the way it was before we started changing, I didn't want it to end with you guys." She moved a long curl from out of her face and looked down again. "I love you...both of you. I'm...sorry." She looked at both of us, her eyes now filled with tears.

Corey scuffed his foot along the hardwood floor and mussed his hair, finally deciding to pipe up. "Liv, you know that friendship is built on trust. And trust, whether we like it or not is frail, like, um, m-my grandma's hip, right?" Corey asked Olivia. She giggled through her tears and nodded. "And now, if we look at our friendship as an old lady hip..." He rambled, "It has broken," Her face fell, "But, we can fix it, we need a old lady hip replacement, but old lady hips when broken are difficult to mend, so we need to make it out of different stuff, stronger stuff," He smiled as he'd finally found his thread, as if pandering to the cheesey nature of his monologue he looked at us condescendingly, "And you know what that is?" He nodded as he asked the question, as if it had already been answered.

"Forgiveness." I answered flatly. Olivia looked to me hopefully, but my expression gave nothing away.

"That's right," He simpered, "Now, we're going to have to mine for that forgiveness, and, I think you'll find it..right..." He paused and gestured towards his chest, "In here...I know I have." He smiled patronisingly again. Olivia beamed and then looked to me. "And I'm sure there's been a fair amount of backstabbery on all sides," He looked significantly, I widened my eyes as a warning, "None of which has to be specified right now." He added, "It's just something we all need to accept in order to move on and forgive."

I finally nodded. "I accept that." Olivia smiled. "And I'm still sorry, but...do you think we can be friends again?"

"We'll see how it goes." I said coldly, Olivia beamed and threw her arms around me , and then Corey, dragging the three of us into a tight embrace, hwere Crey stood stiffly, presumably waiting to be let go. Little did Olivia know that me and Corey had had just about all the together time we could stand. But she didn't know, I breathed a guilty sigh of relief as she squuezed me tightly, I had my best friend back. Yes, I was certain, she could never know. Forgiveness is fine on paper, but in reality it was so much more difficult.

I fet Corey take my hand behind Olivia's back and squeeze it tight, we looked each other in the eyes and we both knew that the mornings activity would never, should never happen again.

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**A/N: REVIEWS ARE LOVED :) xx.**


	16. Chapter 13

Olivia

I took a deep breath as I walked back from Phoebe's. I felt light, but heavy. Everything and nothing had been resolved. I'd been forgiven, we'd hugged, but something about it felt forced and stilted. Had they really forgiven me? I wouldn't have forgiven me. I ran a hand through my hair, wincing slightly as my fingers caught behind a matt of hair. Rather than pull it and resolve it I took my fingers out of my hair. I was now scuffing my feet along the pavement, glaring at the vivid green grass as I went. I had so far managed to avoid my mother, but as with all things, sooner or later I would have to face my problems.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Corey

Olivia closed the door quietly behind her, flashing us a soft smile as she went. I walked through into the living room, over to the bay window and pulled aside the lacy curtain, for some reason making sure she'd left before turning away. I faced the doorway where Phoebe stood, motionless.

"You're not leaving?" She asked.

"Well, I did want to talk to you…" I said, walking closer.

"We've talked. I'm going to be honest with you, this is really awkward for me, I'd just be happy to never talk about it again." She turned away back into the hallway. The doorbell rang loudly, the sound reverberating through the house. Phoebe jumped in surprise, placing a hand on her chest before opening the door. I joined her in the doorway where Lawrence stood, looking at her from under his eyelashes.

"Hey, babe." He said quietly. I was aware again of my pajama situation, and desperately seeking a hoodie or anything for more cover.

"Hey to you too." I replied coolly.

"Phoebe, can I have a word?" He asked, moving forward a step towards her, he cast a glare at me, "Alone?" I scoffed at this already knowing Phoebe's response.

"Uhm, sure. Corey was just leaving, right?" She said, turning to me. I looked at her incredulously. But she gazed back at me evenly.

"Yeah. Just leaving." I mumbled, pushing past Lawrence as he grinned at me.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phoebe

Lawrence walked in. "Glad you rid yourself of your minder." He grinned, I scowled in response.

"That's not funny."

"Right." He said throwing his hair out of his face with a swift head movement. "I was completely responsible for the whole incident at the party. And I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"Why would that bother me?" I asked casually as I led him into the kitchen and prepared a glass of orange juice. I left it for just a moment to pick up a hoodie that was strewn over a nearby breakfast chair.

"Well, it would matter to me if it mattered to you because I really like you…and I can't stop thinking about you…" He said, stuttering slightly.

"Is that right?" I asked cynically. "So, I guess that would explain why you were all over my best friend last night, would it?"

"I was just trying to get at Corey for not letting me talk to you." He pleaded. _Wait, Lawrence? Pleading? This isn't right. It can't be. _I thought.

"Okay, you've had your say. Can you go now, please?" I said, weakly.

"Pheeb, I really like you, I think it could work between us." I turned back to him, whilst my mind boggled. "It was great between us, wasn't it?" He asked, reaching out to stroke my cheek, he brushed it gently, I responded by stepping back tentatively.

"W-What?" I babbled.

"Come on. I really like you." He said, stepping toward me, this time I wormed around him and walked back down the hallway. He followed, of course.

"Go." I said, he scowled at me. "Now."

"Why did you let me in if you were just going to get rid of me in under a minute?" He said, as he stepped back out into the doorway. "Last chance, Phoebe. I'd be willing to forget all this."

"Aww, you'd do that for me?" I asked feigning flattery. I began to close the door but his foot caught it before it could close, he smirked at me and held it fast, pushing the door harder I attempted to close him out, but he was too strong.

"You can't wait around for Corey forever. And I'm the only one who wants you now."

"Hm. Yeah, naturally." I attempted, "Look, I can get whoever I want, and I don't want you." I said, pushing the door with as much force as I had but it was still not enough.

"Who? Summers?" He laughed. "He's never wanted you, Phoebe, only Olivia." I felt hot tears start to sting my eyes and burning in my nose, I gritted my teeth and pushed my tongue against the roof of my mouth. "And he certainly won't want you after I tell him what happened."

"He knows. He doesn't care. Believe it or not, you are not always at the front of everyone's minds, Lawrence."

"I could tell him a few gory details, he certainly won't want you then." He chuckled again bitterly, and at that he had had his last word and removed his foot from the door.

"Don't expect to come near me ever again." I said, in a low voice. "You shit." I had closed the door before I realised that that was if possible the worst insult I had ever heard. I collapsed back against the door and groaned audibly. _How do I get myself into all this?_


	17. Chapter 14

Olivia

"Mom." I acknowledged, as I walked into the kitchen, attempting to be calm, but I knew what was coming. I was about to pay harsh reparations for my actions, because as with everything in life, one mistake comes with a heap of consequences. I surveyed her carefully as I stepped through the doorway and over the threshold of safety, into the dining room. But as I walked further into the kitchen I noticed her sitting with someone I vaguely recognised, he had dark skin and a shaved head of greying hair, he wore a gentle smile, but he made me weary. Mom was sat at one end of the dining table, with her hands clasped together and elbows perched neatly on the table. "Oh, hello" I heard my surprised voice come out of my mouth and bounce into the dining room, but it was squeaky and had a false chipper mannerism to it.

"I think we need to have a chat." She announced evenly. "Would you mind sitting down?" The new man observed me as I made my way to the opposite end of the dining room table. I obeyed and gently took my place at the other end of the long table, "About?" I smiled, loathing myself and this innocent mask.

"Recently..." She pushed her chair back from the table and stood, approaching my end of the table. The stranger remained still. "I have become aware of certain aspects of your life that I haven't had the time to acknowledge maybe, or perhaps on some level have been trying to avoid, because..." Her heels created a steady tempo as they tapped the hardwood floors on their slow progression towards me, "Because they are unpleasant. I don't like unpleasantness, Olivia. I know you don't either." I dropped my head slightly, her gaze was now within range. I slid my hands down the sides of the dining chair and gripped to stop me chewing off my nail polish again, I knew she hated that."I think you may have an alcohol problem. I want to help you." I looked up surprised.

"No, I don't really-" I interjected loudly, insulted.

"Don't interrupt, please, Olivia." She responded, now by my side, she looked down at me, where I sat, while she had one manicured hand on the back of the chair.

"Can we do this when we don't have company?" I murmured through gritted teeth.

"Olivia, this is Dr Walker." My stomach dropped as I turned to the man who smiled at me again, I didn't smile back. "He wants to help you too."

"I don't need help," I replied, "I really do not have a problem."

"There will be no arguments about this." She said firmly, I gripped my hands tighter on the sides of the chair. "I know I haven't been very involved in your life recently and I'm sorry for that. This is my way of making it up to you, I won't let you ruin your life, Olivia. I won't. Your father wouldn't have wanted that." She crouched my my chair, now looking up at me, instead, appealing to me. A large lump rose up in my throat and attempted to swallow it, she was still speaking slowly as if thinking that I was too doped up to comprehend this. For a moment I wished I was, because somehow I thought this would be more bearable if I did have a problem. I didn't say anything though, it was obvious already that she wouldn't hear what I was saying, I could be screaming through a megaphone and she'd continue to ignore me entirely. "I thought it would be nicer if you were to have your first session at home, to make you feel more comfortable, if that would help."

I turned to Dr Walker again, terrified. "I won't be with you, of course, it will be just you two, so you can say whatever you want." She continued and took one of my hands, held it and looked into my eyes. "We're going to make it okay." Her eyes began to line themselves with tears and she sniffed slightly, this made my nose tingle where I was certain I would start to cry, I bit my lip. She buried her head in my hand for a moment, and I was desperate to rip it away. She took her head away, inhaling sharply. Before I knew what had happened she had put her arms around me and I had my head on her shoulder, inhaling the flowery perfume that I hadn't smelt for so long. I thought back to the last time we had hugged. Truthfully so much time had passed since then I could barely remember the feeling and now I was living it, the thought brought tears to my eyes and I sobbed into her soft jumper.

She pulled away now, shepherding me unsuspectingly into the study, while the doctor followed silently behind. By the time I had composed myself I was sitting on the two seater quilted, black couch completely alone with Dr Walker while my mother closed the door quietly behind her and the good doctor seated himself comfortably in the quilted burgundy armchair opposite me. _Was the hig a trick? Were the tears? Just to get me alone with the doctor? _I sat still, bewildered and angry.

"Ms Henderson. May I call you Olivia? Would you be comfortable with that?" He asked nicely. I had no time for nice.

"Whatever." I said, slouching back into my seat.

"Would you mind if I asked you some questions?" He said, taking out a small notepad from a balck leather bag I didn't recognise. It was already in the room, waiting for me. I shouldn't have come home tonight.

"I would mind." I answered testily.

"Ah," He smiled, "That could make this difficult, as this process usually involves you talking and me listening, although I can understand that you're not used to getting to explain yourself or your actions." He crossed his legs in the chair and smiled at me again. "Did you want to explain something to me? Perhaps talk about what your mother told me about?"

"Well, I could..." I began, "But there woukd clearly be no point in that as my mother knows everything about my life, obviously, and has told you and god knows who else exactly what she has dreamed that I do with my spare time." I fumed, it wasn't like me to talk back. But I did now. "It's not rue wat she said, you know," I said, quieter. "I have been drunk twice, not that she would know about any of the other times I have drunk perfectly responsibly because she's too busy trying to be Hillary Clinton. But the second I trip up the whole world falls apart."

"I understand how you would feel upset by that." He said gently, I scowled at him and then looked over to the door, there was something weighing me to the couch I sat on, but I could so easily stand up and walk away. He was still looking at me. I adjused myself in my seat, _oh yes, so easy to stand up and get out of here._ "Are you uncomfortable?" He asked. He didn't know how uncomfortable.

"Yes." I replied, "May I stand?"

"Of course." I stood, first step done. I began to pace the room, touching verious potted plants and running my hands along ornaments. "There was something I wanted to ask you about, I take it that you and your mother are not very close, I was wondering..." I stopped listening for a moment and thought about the millions of attention seeking rich girls who would give anything to be in my place right now, someone devoted to and paid for listening about their confidence problems and how depressed they get because of boyfriend problems and bad relations with their parents, etcetera etcetera. The list could go on. I began to listen again. "...Talk about how you've been coping with your father's death, I've heard it was quite recent."

"Four months." I said, involuntarily, my mouth was dry. I turned back to him again, the very mention of it made me ache, the hole in my heart gaped. I saw him turn behind him and pick up a photograph of a fishing trip just five months ago.

"Is this him?" He asked. I nodded, and looked at the photo, his hair was wispy and fine on his head from the chemo but he still smiled the painful sickly smile I had gotten used to as he stood by me with a frail arm round my shoulders, while I held up a large fish, beaming as if I cared about nothing else. "Were you close?" He asked.

I pulled open the study door and walked out, and then out of the other door and down the front path.

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	18. Chapter 15

Olivia

I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out my cellphone, I angrily punched in numbers and held it to my ear. Listening to it ring I wiped the tears away and sniffed loudly as the receiving line was picked up. "Phoebe?" I asked. "Can we talk? Something terrible has happened, I really need you right now." I sniffled again.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I can't really talk right now, is it okay for me to come over?" I was already on my way.

"Uhm, sure. I have to talk to you too." She replied, her voice sounded heavy as if with tears.

"What's happened?"

"Uh...just...Lawrence stuff, I'll explain when you get here, okay?"

"Okay, thank you, so much, you're such a good friend." I replied sincerely, pushing a hand through my hair.

"Yeah.." She sounded distant, then the line went dead.

* * *

Corey

I paced around Campbell's car while he sat on the hood, reclined against the windshield.

"She asked me to stop partying!" He raged, taking off his sunglasses. "I mean, I'm not even sleeping with anyone else! What more does she want?" I chuckled and stopped pacing for a second and put my hands on my hips, looking up at the vivid blue summer sky.

"Maybe she wants you to calm down? You know, show that you can make a commitment, settle down? Stop your wild antics?" I suggested, moving over to lean again the side of the car, he swivelled round to look at me.

"Blasphemer." He said hoarsely. "And...commitment? I mean, three months of solid monogamy-"

"You've been dating for five months." I pointed out, he ignored this and continued.

"I mean, what can be more committed than that?"

"Five months of solid monogamy." I replied. Campbell groaned and turned around again, placing his sunglasses back on his face, slumping back against the windshield once more.

"Anyways...what's been going on with you and las chiquitas, huh?" He asked.

I thought back to this morning, "Funny you should ask." I replied. He turned back to me, moving his sunglasses on to the top of his head. I grinned in response.

"Brittany, are you trying to tell me you got lucky?" The shock on his face was obvious, luckily it was surpassed only by his awe. "And who may I ask is the lucky young filly? Surely not Olivia?"

"No." I laughed. I was torn between my inner "Dude" and Corey, the temptation to brag was immense, but then the true friend in me wanted to protect her privacy, he knew she'd be embarrassed if anyone else found out. And she'd be so upset if Olivia found out. I thought back to Olivia, how would she react? Maybe she'd be jealous? Maybe it'd make her realise that she'd wanted me all along. "Actually, it was Phoebe. And I... I think I really like her." I looked at him again, his face had fallen.

"Dude, no." He was completely serious, I laughed.

"What?"

He slid off the shiny, black hood, his feet landing with a slap on the concrete of his driveway, he stood in front of me. "Phoebe is a nice girl, okay? Leave her alone." I glared at him, affronted. "I know what you do to girls, you mess them up! And maybe at first I was only hanging out with her because Kaya was friends with her, but I know her now. And she's a good person, okay? A good person. She doesn't deserve that."

"Hey," I said, standing up straight, bringing me closer to him, "I like her, and she possibly, just might, like me. Now, that's a refreshing change from Olivia, let me tell you that now."

"That may be so, but it's not all about you, is it?" He said, squaring up to me.

I scoffed in his face. "Just stop this, it's embarrassing. I'll do what I want."

"And who you want?" He growled.

"Precisely," I smiled back. _What the hell is his problem?_

"Just don't forget this, Summers. You can screw girls, whatever, but you also _screw_ them. Get it?"

"Yeah, kudos on the pun. Just stay out of this."

"Fine." He said backing away. "But if you hurt her Kaya won't rest until I kick your ass." He glared at me for a second, I held his gaze fast. But it was only a moment before we were both laughing and had forgotten why we were mad at each other in the first place. And too scared to remember.

* * *

Phoebe

I gasped, "She got a shrink for you?!" Olivia nodded gravely as she paced in front of my mirror and wardrobe from end to end of my room. I sat on my purple satin duvet listening intently. "Oh my god, I can't believe that."

"Well, believe it. I still can't believe what Lawrence did! What a pig!"

"Stating the obvious but okay." I laughed, Olivia collapsed onto my large king-sized bed.

"When did everything get so messed up?" She asked, groaning.

"I don't know." I answered, leaning back onto my pillows.

"I missed this." She said. "Talking to you like this, I really missed it." She sat up again and smiled at me.

"Me too." I said, but I couldn't bring myself to return her soft smile.

"Like, I feel like I can be so honest around you." She said. _Oh my God, she knows._ I thought.

"Mmm." A huge pang of guilt crippled this muscles in my stomach for a second. I picked up a nearby throw pillow and hugged it to my body, trying to stifle the fists that punched out of my stomach, reminding me of my guilt. "It's good that we're friends again now." She nodded. We sat in silence for a moment and she picked up a magazine which lay on my bed and began to flick through. "Liv?"

"Mm?" She replied, not looking up from the magazine.

"Would you be madder if someone betrayed you and you found out, or if they told you themselves? Hypothetically." I took a deep breath, waiting for her reaction. She looked at me, her face a vision of concern and confusion.

"I guess I'd prefer to hear it from them." She neatly closed the magazine and pushed it to one side, she slid closer to me on the duvet.

"What did you do?" She said, seriously.

"Not me, just…hypothetically." I lied as the fists pounded my stomach. "If they did tell you, would you be able to trust them again?"

"It would depend what _they_ did." _Now would be the moment_, my head told me, but no words came out of my mouth. _Just be honest with her, she'll thank you for it. Just say it. _I looked up at her face and bit my lip, looking back down at the shiny surface of my duvet, I ran my hand over it. _Say it! Now. Say it now. Now! _

"Something happened between me and Corey." I blurted.

"You...kissed?" Her voice was low, as if the words came from the pit of her stomach.

"No." I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. "Well, yeah." She dropped her head and looked at the duvet before pushing a hand through her blonde wavy hair.

"Okay..." She cleared her throat, "That's okay."

"That's not all...we, uh..." I didn't finish the sentence. She stood up from the bed.

"He had sex with you?" She barely blinked at all, just held steely eye contact with me.

"Yeah." The words ached as they came out of my mouth.

"That's great. I mean you've liked him for years, so... Great." She said stiffly.

"Liv, we're not going out, I don't think he even likes me-"

"Do you like him?" Her hollow voice echoed around the room. I shook my head fiercely. That was the one lie I would tell, she didn't need to know that. "So why did you…?" I shrugged, no longer meeting her eye.

"Liv, it didn't mean anything." Not to him.

"I should go." She said quickly, _had she seen through the lie? _"I'll see you around." She was out of my room before I could call her back and when I ran to the stairs she was already out of the front door.

* * *

Corey

I thought more about what Campbell had said on the walk home. I didn't want to hurt anyone/, that wasn't what it was about. I resolved not to think anymore about Campbell's discouraging words, I knew for sure she'd liked me, but did she still? There was the real question.

I kicked a stone which lay temptingly still on the pavement and it disappeared around the corner which led to my house, I did a double take, but when I looked again the front door was still open and an end table tipped over behind it, with a vase lying in shatters in front of it. I ripped across the pavement and through the doorway. But as I crossed the doorway I fell suddenly silent, aware that whoever the vandal was, they could still be lying inside, waiting for me. As I walked through the hall I picked an umbrella from the umbrella stand, fully prepared to use it for my defence. I walked to the end of the corridor where the kitchen door was ajar. I pushed it silently open, the kitchen was empty.

"Hey, douche."

I spun round rapidly, hitting whoever stood behind me firmly in the gut, which was met by a loud groan as the umbrella collided with his torso. I smiled broadly at the sight of my older brother Jack as he was bent double, holding his stomach. I looked up and saw his twin, Jamie, hurry round the corner of the den. "Jack, what happened?" He asked breathlessly. "Hey, Cor."

"Bed-wetter went full-on Chuck Norris on my ass, is what happened." Jack growled, straightening up, rubbing his abs. I grinned at them both, overcome with sudden nostalgia. They had both been away at college for the past three years, only coming home at Christmas as they always had better plans for summer vacation. I'd forgotten that they were coming home for two weeks this summer. I looked beyond him at the hallway, my eyes widened at the wreckage of the end table.

"Guys, what happened here?"

"We came home, hoping to surprise you and when we arrived there was some guy here." Jamie said. _Crap. Edward._

"And when we asked him what the hell he was doing in our house he went crazy," Jack contributed, "started running away, we tried to chase after the freak. I managed to grab his arm and he threw me into the end table and then ran away. I mean, what the hell has happened to this town?"

"That was my friend Ed. He's been staying here for a while." I explained. "I can't believe you guys scared him."

"The guy had scissors for hands and you're blaming us for scaring _him_?!" Jack said, incredulously.

"I should go find him." I said, as I made for the door.

"No way, Jose." Jack said, pulling me back by the back of my shirt. "I don't want that freak in my house. Besides, we have news to impart." I raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, we'll go into the kitchen." Said, Jamie as he walked past me and closed the front door.

We all walked through to the kitchen, and for a second we felt like brothers again. I sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar.

"What's up?"

"Um, bad news or good news?" Jamie asked, seating himself across from me.

"Good."

"Well, I'm getting married." He grinned. I crinkled my eyebrows, truth be told, what with Jamie always being the more… as my mother would put it "gentle" boy of the two, everyone had always assumed he was gay.

"…To a girl?" I asked.

"Duh." He responded, looked offended at my question. "Her name is Felicity and she was in my pre-med class, she's so smart, pretty too…" He added as he pushed back his cuticles. Still reeling from this confusing news I had forgotten to be concerned about the bad news.

"And the bad news is… mom and dad are getting a divorce." Jamie said, solemnly.

"What?! Since when?!"

"Since this weekend, sorry buddy." Jamie said, rubbing my arm. "But it's gonna be okay. Don't worry."

"Why aren't they telling me this themselves?" I asked, suspicious of the legitimacy of the scenario.

"They asked us to tell you, well because they don't want to be in the same room right now and they knew we'd break it to you gently."

"Butt-plug." Jack said. Jamie and I looked at him quizzically. "Sorry, it's just this was getting a little too "Gilmore Girls" for my taste, needed to balance it out."

"Jack, don't be an idiot, please. I'm just trying to be supportive."

"Only if you quit being a tool. I'm trying to cheer up my little bro here!" Jack replied, defensively.

"By calling me a butt-plug?" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah." He confirmed. "But, you're going to need to pick a place to live, Dad's moving back to England, so you can go with him, or stay here with mom, but she's most likely gonna sell the house and get an apartment, for her and _Gareth."_ The disgust in his voice was apparent.

"There's a Gareth?"

"Unfortunately," Jamie replied. "He works at mom's office, apparently he understands her needs."

My mother had few needs, being relatively simple as she was but with a temper that could put Naomi Campbell to shame. I'd always known that my parents didn't exactly have a lot in common, their relationship was tempestuous to say the least, she was a plump, opinionated blonde whose main interests were shopping and American Idol. He was a skinny lecturer whose primary interests were Tolstoy and H.G. Wells. But I'd always hoped that in their own way this made them so much more compatible. Apparently not.

"So you can either live with mom and the new stud muffin," Jack continued for Jamie, "Or emigrate to England, or…Jamie said you can live with him and _Felicity_." I could hear his distaste for Felicity as well, but I couldn't hazard a guess what he had against her. "I would say you could stay with me but you know, I'll be having sex… A LOT. So you might not want to be around." He grinned childishly at me. "So what's it gonna be, shithead?"

"I'm going to need time to think about it." I said, not caring about the fact that I just got called shithead, it was just something you had to accept when you lived with Jack.

"Okay, well you take your time." Jamie said.

"And… you can live with me if you want…" Jack added, "I'll try to reign back my primitive instincts, I might even stop walking around naked."

"Wow, you really must care about me, huh?" I smiled.

"You don't know the half of it…" He said, as he and Jamie both put their arms around me and hugged me. "Ass-munch."

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A/N: Reviews are loved and appreciated J x


	19. Chapter 16

_This chapter is for Sara. My newest reader and a beastly girl :)_

_

* * *

_

_Olivia_

_It shouldn't have felt like such a great betrayal, I'd said repeatedly that I didn't want him, that she could feel free to have him. But now that she'd taken him without considering my feelings, I felt like she was somehow stealing him from me and she had no right. Was I jealous? I'd heard about these girls who get neurotic over boys and I'd never stopped to think that I might become one of them._

* * *

_Corey_

_I stood under the shower head letting water beat down from the shower head, covering head to toe in tiny, hot beads which dripped downwards creating a pool around my feet. The shampoo rinsed out of my hair as I pushed it out of my face. I looked up, facing the showerhead and let the spurts pour hot onto my face, I closed my eyes and turned back around after a moment and wiped the water from my eyes, though they still stung horribly from the heat. The shampoo quickly created a pool of white foam around my feet and then dashed to the plughole, loitering there until finally it, like so many things, slipped away almost unnoticed. _

_I wondered to myself about yesterday morning, I liked Phoebe. I knew I did, she was pretty and everything a guy could possibly want. But somehow, it still wasn't right. She still wasn't the one. She still wasn't Olivia. I reached guiltily for the ladies brand conditioner I used bi-weekly to keep my golden locks nourished, but if anyone ever asked...it was my mother's. I could try to create whatever feeling I wanted for Phoebe, but that wasn't the way I wanted it. Running the conditioner through my hair I thought maybe that was what my parents had done, for many years they had been going to salsa classes, workshops, lectures together, always making sure to find time to themselves, but somehow it wasn't enough because they were, inevitably, incompatible._

_But to love someone who hurts you...well that isn't love at all. And then I had a horrible thought, Do I love Olivia? Or is there something inside me that secretly loves the pain?_ Was that why a part of me didn't feel right with Phoebe? Because I knew she wouldn't hurt me, and she loves me back? That isn't a problem, that's a blessing, but somehow, in a horribly twisted, masochistic way, it felt like a burden.

"Hey, wad!" A muffled voice called from outside the bathroom door, "Are you gonna be out soon I need to pee!"

In response, I switched off the shower and stepped out onto the bathmat, carefully making sure that the hot beads of water that dripped off me fell on the mat, perfectly into place, if only everything were that simple. I towel dried my hair and then wrapped the towel round my waist, as I opened the door Jack burst past me and into the bathroom, the door slammed quickly behind me. I walked back to my room across the hard wood floors and into my room where the bright anaemic summer morning light wept through the gap in my curtains.

I was half dressed before I realised I didn't have any deodorant left, I walked back out to the bathroom and banged on the door. "Jack? Can I borrow some deodorant?"

"Yeah, sure. But can you wait a while? Crystal's getting dressed." He called back.

"Who's Crystal?" I called back, knowing full well that when I went to sleep last night there was no girl in the house.

"None of your business Miss Marple." He said back, snorting at his own joke.

"What is she doing here?" I scowled at the door.

"What do you think?"

"Well can you get rid of her, please?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Brother, it was not my first time, she will be gone before breakfast." He slowly. "Are we done here? Cos I have business to attend to?" I didn't dare ask what the business was.

"Um, guys?" Called a girl's voice, presumably Crystal's. "I can hear you." I cringed in embarrassment for my brother.

"So what're you bitching about? You got to be back at Wal-Mart by 11 anyways." He shouted through the door.

"You jerk!" She said, as the blonde came out of Jack's room half dressed and holding a Wal-Mart vest to cover her bra as she got dressed as she walked.

"Sorry." I said as I shuffled past her.

"It's not your fault you're related to a TOTAL DICK." She shouted as she walked past the bathroom door. I was glad someone saw it this way.

"Yeah, back at you, sweetie." He said. She made one more exasperated groan before she ran down the stairs and the door slammed behind her.

I sighed and went back to my room after receiving the deodorant from Jack's room. It was amazing how you could feel so mature one minute and like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and then an older sibling can make you feel thirteen again.

My cell-phone buzzed and I picked it up, "Hello?"

"Corey? It's Edward." Said a quiet voice.

"Right, hey, sorry. I know what happened yesterday, I was gonna come look for you, but…" I didn't have an excuse why I didn't, I just didn't. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. It was a bit of a fright yesterday, but I feel better now, I'm staying at Olivia's."

"Oh, you are?" I said, for lack of anything better to say.

"Yeah." There was an awkward pause. "Um, okay, so I'll see you…sometime. Bye." Then the line went dead. I was about to tuck the phone back into my jeans pocket when I saw I had a text from Campbell "Hey bitch, thre's a prty da riva, b there or b square. P.S Bring ur bitches x"

_Well then, if it's my bitches he wants, it's my bitches he will get._

***

Phoebe looked directly ahead at the road while she was driving her dad's Volvo to the party for us. I was sat in the passenger seat and there was a bouncy pop song on the radio. It was here that the differences between her and Olivia were most apparent. I could hear Olivia humming softly at a volume barely above a whisper, and occasionally she would sing the lyrics along with it. Her voice was practically angelic, hitting every note perfectly as if she'd studied the song for months. Phoebe, however, stumbled on the words and sometimes hit the wrong note, but laughed it off, and she sang loudly and passionately. I occasionally chipped in with the chorus, but not much, I preferred to listen to them than myself.

Finally we pulled up on the grass by the side of the road, there were other cars grouped there, but not many, as most people would be drinking anyway. We got out a stepped onto the parched grass, it was eight o'clock by this time and it was starting to get dark, the bright silvery moon cast silky shadows across the grass. We had to walk about 700 yards to get to the river where most people had crossed over the little stone bridge and onto the other side where some had bought deck chairs and others blankets but most people were in the stream, paddling or going in deeper, up to waist deep.

"Corey!" Campbell said, pulling me aside. "Drinks over there," He gestured to a titanic pile of cans people had contributed on the ground, "And stay out of the bushes, the party has started early for some." He laughed sleazily and then left me. I was flanked by Olivia and Phoebe and it was impossible to shake the elated feeling of pride to be with them. I kicked off my sneakers, and started wading in to the water.

"Corey, what are you doing?" Olivia asked, with her hand on her hip still standing on the bank. The other partygoers were further downstream, so it was virtually just us three.

"Getting' wet, care to join me?" I gestured towards both of them and raised my eyebrows, Olivia looked down at her dress for a moment, while Phoebe uninhibitedly jumped into the water and threw back her now wet hair. Olivia kicked off her shoes and sat on the bank, dipping her feet in the water delicately. She made gentle figure eights in the water and looked and Phoebe and I, cocking her head to one side. Phoebe splashed her playfully.

"Water's great!" She exclaimed.

"No thanks." She said. She had seemed a little off so far, and now I knew something was up, probably between her and Phoebe, as she seemed a little uptight as well, but I decided to let it go.

"Methinks a lady who doth protest is in desperate need of a wetting." I said, winking at Phoebe, we both advanced, jokey predators in the glistening water. We both grabbed a leg each and pulled her, struggling and squealing off the bank and _Sploosh!_ into the water. In a revenge attack, Olivia splashed both of us in turn, but she didn't seem too bothered about getting wet anymore.

"Phoebe?" Said a voice behind me, it was Kaya. She stood on the bank in a violent coloured orange cocktail dress and high heels, highly overdressed of course, but when a girl looks like Kaya does, nobody seems to mind. "I need to talk to you." She appeared to be holding back tears as she fanned her eyes with a hand full of long talons.

"What about?" She asked, splashing the water.

"It's about Christopher. I think we may need to break up." She said this so dramatically I half expected her to faint.

"Ahhh no…" I said, sarcastically. Kaya and I had never seen eye to eye, in particular after in ninth grade when she was blatantly trying to get my attention, but I never went out with. Girls like Kaya with their neuroses are simply not worth it, however when Campbell decided that she was I said "All power to you". Girls like Kaya don't just boil your bunny, they keep the rabbit's foot as a token of your undying love.

Phoebe reluctantly dragged herself out of the water, onto the bank and away, until it was just Olivia and me left. Olivia moved closer to me in the water and splashed me.

"Listen…" She said, "I know I kind of messed things up. Okay, I really messed things up." She said, moving closer again, until we were within a foot of each other. She took my hand under the skin of the water and then held it up out of the water and watched it glisten under the light of the moon. "But, everything's fine now…I was wondering…" She looked deep into my eyes for a moment before smiling and looking down at the river, "If you might want to give it another go?"

I chuckled softly, no other response seemed to do justice to the elation I felt in that moment. I couldn't figure out why now but I didn't want to know, I didn't want to think, not now. I leant in close to her and she kissed me, in fact, I barely had to do anything at all, she was kissing me. My head span and I wondered if she could feel the smiles that ambushed the corners of my mouth as we kissed. Before I knew what was happening she had gently pushed me up against the bank and was wrapping her legs around my waist, lifting herself up and heaving against me.

I pulled away for just a second trying to push myself back into reality but it was real, and after all we had been through to get to this pivotal point I couldn't believe it. In particular when she started peeling off my t-shirt which was soaked through, she took it off and threw it behind me and giggled softly as it landed with a squelch on the grass. In response I took off hers. "I love you." I whispered as the moonlight cast shadows across her face.

"Mm." She replied. Then she was unbuttoning my jeans, it was then that I pushed her away. She looked offended as the water splashed quietly as I lifted her down. "What?" She asked.

"It's…nothing." I chuckled again, not because anything was funny but out of sheer disbelief, finally it was happening and I turned her down?

"What?" She asked again, this time with more impatience in her voice.

"Just…- "Mm" ?." I laughed again.

"Well…" She shrugged. My stomach dropped.

"So you don't then?" I said, my voice was noticeably crestfallen. She looked at me blankly, casually splashing in the water. "Oh my G-" I said ruffling my hair out of sheer embarrassment. Of course she didn't. I began to wade out of the water. "Why are you doing this to me?" I whispered.

"What? So you don't want to…?" She asked.

"Of course I do!" I shouted.

"I don't get it." She said.

"Neither do I! I'm not your plaything, Olivia! You can't just decide you want me and then throw me away on a whim." She looked away guiltily down the river, where the sounds of the rest of the party were finally loud enough to hear. Or maybe I just hadn't heard them until now. "You know what's worse?" I laughed bitterly. "If you'd have said that you loved me…you could have dropped me and picked me up again as much as you'd want." I started to walk away, shirtless on the bank, my chest heavy with too much pride to go looking for my shirt.

"Well you did it with Phoebe! What makes her so special? What makes her better than me?!" She shouted behind me.

"What?" I asked, completely confused, how did she know? Was this what she was angry about? Why Phoebe was acting odd? But I kept walking. She didn't deserve my time.


	20. Chapter 17

**A/N: I've been listening The Kings Of Leon's I want You a lot while writing the first portion of this chapter, so if you want a good feel of the mood, that would be the thing to listen to :)**

* * *

**Corey**

**I walked away, every string in the immaculate braid that held me to Olivia was unravelling, splitting, untying. I could have walked back for my shirt, but some how that just might have ruined the effect of my exit. My eyes burned and I wanted to punch something as if I could blame that for my being such an idiot, but I wouldn't cry. Boys don't cry.**

**I cast my eyes down the grassy banks to where Phoebe sat in rippling water, cross-legged and waist deep. She looked serene as she looked on at the guys jumping in the water further down in the opposite direction from where I'd come. They threw lilos and other inflatables into the water, even a board or two, managed to stay on for a fraction of a second, then falling off and laughing more uproariously after each failure. I had reached the shallower part of the river, where it was almost a stream where Phoebe was sat, the moonlight creating a milky glow where her pale skin and freckles used to be. As I began to wade towards her she smiled at me, my stomach flipped slightly as I smiled back. Could I like Phoebe now? What is my problem?**

**"How'd it go with Kaya?" I asked. She rolled her eyes before she replied.**

**"I somehow managed to convince her he's slept with no one else and just doesn't want his friends to know how much he loves her because then he'd look vulnerable, etcetera etcetera. Why...-? Where is your shirt?" She laughed.**

**"Long story." I answered vaguely, going to sit down next to her, but I almost crumpled under the weight in my chest. She understood this, however vague I had been, she pressed her lips together in response, before leaning behind her, where three full beer bottles were sitting in a line on the dry bank. She took two and offered one to me, I happily popped the cap after years of practice and began to chug it back to help dull the humiliation I felt. There was some cheering a bit away from us and I looked over.**

"**Summers!" Campbell shouted over, "Your brothers are here." And indeed they were, Jack held an eight pack of beer and waved over at us. Jamie stood by his side looking bashful, at least he seemed to realise they were too old for this. I rolled my eyes as Phoebe had and continued to drink. She also drank hers, but much more delicately but grimaced after one large gulp and placed it back on the bank behind her and tilted her head backwards so her eyes faced the sky.**

**"The stars are beautiful." She said quietly, I joined her as we both looked up for a moment in absolute silence at the tiny sparkling specks that looked so insignificant but somehow managed to hold her gaze so powerfully that the ground seemed to move beneath us and the noise of the party drifted into a buzz.**

**"Sure are." I replied dozily. Drinking more of the beer until there was barely a drop at the bottom, even I was surprised at the speed I had downed it; I balanced it in the shallows, ready for it to be swept away with the water. But Phoebe hadn't noticed as she was, still engrossed in the winking lights that looked down at us.**

**"Stars are so...underestimated, for what they are. Beautiful, but that's not all they are. You know there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on earth?" She looked at them still intently, but I stopped to look at her. "And you know some of them? They're like, 10 billion years old. That's a number I can't even think about. They've seen more of the galaxy than we probably ever will. It's like they pretend not to know anything, and when they sparkle, that's just the star's way of winking at you, saying "Shh, don't tell."" She giggled softly.**

**"Okay, how drunk are you?" I laughed.**

**"Not one drink all night. With the exception of that sip of beer, but nonetheless I am not drunk. And I'm not stupid either." I opened my mouth to protest but she managed to shut me up with just a look. "I pretend to be stupid for attention. Your attention mostly. And it worked, kind of. But I'm not going to deal with living a lie. I'm Phoebe...and I'm smart." She confessed.**

**"I'm Corey...and to be honest I think I'd love you either way." I'd said it before I realised how it sounded, I didn't mean **_**love **_**love. She blushed slightly. "Wow, I'm doing well tonight, I have declared my undying love to two girls." **

**"Don't worry, I know what you mean." She smiled. "Thanks." We both looked across the bank where Lawrence was talking to some friends, I could feel myself scowl at him, but he didn't look over. **

**"Phoebe, I'm going to ask you a question and I'm going to sound like a jerk however I say it, but...who was better, me or Lawrence?" I cringed slightly as I said it. She looked surprised and turned away. "You don't have to answer - I - Stupid-" I mumbled quickly. But still something in the look in my eye was urging her to go on. Somehow I had to know, would Olivia have liked it that much anyway. Was there a reason why Phoebe didn't want me? Something I did? Something I didn't do?**

**"No contest." She said shyly, looking up at me. Overcome by the desperate need to high five someone and giddy from my triumph I traced a figure eight in the water and watched the ripples it created. She then seemed to catch herself and splashed some water at me playfully.**

"**Don't get all bigheaded." She laughed, "I mean, that's just in my own opinion." I splashed back at the slight and laughed it off. We were quickly engaged in furious splashing in the water amidst a cacophony of giggles - from Phoebe of course. "Hey!" She spat out some water and wiped it from her eyes, this was my cue to stop, so I did.**

"**Didn't go in your eye, did it?" I asked, moving closer to help her get the water out of her eye. Then out of nowhere she splashed me again. I laughed and turned away. "Hey, that's cheating and you know it!"**

"**Ohh, I'm sorry Cordelia." She mocked, before tapping me on the shoulder. "Truce?" She held out her hand which dripped still and I turned back to face her, and shook her outstretched hand. The whole night seemed to be zoning in and out, sometimes noisy, others so unnaturally quiet; this was a quiet time, when you could've heard a leaf as it dropped onto the water. She obviously felt the presence of this overwhelming fug of energy gathering around us and providing invisible earplugs to the sounds of our nocturnal playmates. **

"**Huh." She said, for lack of anything else to say, our hands almost hung limp but neither of us wanted to be the first to break the contact, or maybe she'd just forgotten we were still holding hands. She looked down at them, I could almost feel her hands pulsing electricity into mine as the thin silvery sheet of water still bound our hands and dripped back down to the river surface. **

**Then our eyes locked, I couldn't take my eyes off hers for a second as glints shone off the water and danced on her irises, her pupils so dark in comparison. Her eye makeup was smudged below her eyelashes and the black stain winged out from the corner of her eye, I tried to interpret what she was thinking to no effect; with great reluctance I tried to ask.**

"**Phoebe," I said quietly, almost in a whisper. "What did you think about yesterday?"**

"**You already asked that." She said in an almost zombie-like way, lost in it all.**

"**Not like that, um, emotionally." I said, as my fringe dropped into my eyes. I was sure it was my imagination, but I almost felt her squeeze my hand tighter, but she didn't answer, but probably for a lack of anything to say.**

"…**It all happened so fast." She finally managed to whisper.**

"**Well, not that fast." I blurted out defensively. She smiled slightly.**

"**I don't think we…" Our hands moved slightly as a summer breeze caused a wave further along the river. "Thought it through, it's too complicated."**

"**It doesn't have to be" I finally broke the handshake and put my hand on her shoulder.**

"**You like Olivia." She sighed. "And…you shouldn't-shouldn't settle for second best." She shrugged my hand off her shoulder and I ran it frustratedly through my hair.**

"**You're not-" I argued.**

"**Then why are you only here because she turned you down?" She said a little louder.**

"**No, Phoebe. I want you." I knew that now. But she shook her head. There was an almighty crash down the river slightly, a scream and then a lot of shouting. We immediately stood up from the shallow water and ran to the source of the noise. Phoebe spotted Campbell and approached him as he stood near the centre of the commotion with his arms crossed, looking down at the water, I followed shortly after her, dejected and disorientated.**

"**What's going on?" She asked, he uncrossed his arms and pointed just in front of him, looking impatient. Others, around forty in total gathered to see what was happening Chang had fallen off a branch he'd been swinging from and was now sitting in the shallows holding his leg, muttering curse words under his breath while his shock of black hair fell into his eyes. He had disturbed the water around him and it stirred unappreciatively as he writhed in pain. The others laughed at him and as soon as they saw what happened the crowd started to disperse.**

"**Guys, this isn't funny." Phoebe protested for Chang, "Where does it hurt?" She asked, crouching in the water next to him, he looked up gratefully but his face was still contorted by pain.**

"**My ankle, I think it's busted." He supported his leg gingerly and when he attempted to move he winced.**

"**We should call an ambulance." She muttered. **

"**Woah," Campbell said, "I mean, let's not be hasty. The party's still going and the ambulance would call the police and have us all arrested. We **_**are underage **_**after all." There was a general murmur of consensus from the group.**

"**You're kidding, right?" She asked, looking up at them. I liked the way she cared so much. She stood up, prepared to fight his corner. "Chang might have broken his ankle, he's in pain. So what if we have to pack up early?" The others murmured.**

"**I'm fine, Phoebe, really." He said through gritted teeth, looking up at her with his dark eyes, just barely managing a smile.**

"**I think we should go to the hospital. You could have broken it." She said. "It's okay, I'll drive you."**

"**Phoebe you can't," I said. She looked at me, "You had that beer."**

"**It was just a sip." She retorted,**

"**But if you get pulled over you could still be over the limit." She clenched her jaw.**

"**Has anyone else not been drinking" There was silence. "We'll have to call an ambulance." Phoebe paced towards the assembled crowd. "Who has a phone?" No one volunteered but Campbell stepped forward.**

"**Look, Murray. All he has to do is sit tight for a couple of hours, then you can call whoever the hell you want." He spoke loudly for the benefit of everyone, and held out his cell phone, wiggling it teasingly in front of her. She swiped at it but missed. "Who else wants the party to go on?" He asked turning to the others. They all agreed guiltily. Phoebe looked at them incredulously. "I said…" He spoke louder this time. "Who wants to PARTY?" They all cheered, whooped and clapped noisily. "Well, Murray. The party has spoken." He smirked. "You can have this…" He wiggled the phone again, she again swiped and missed. "At the end of the night." He grinned cheekily and he replied by smirking. I looked carefully at the crowd, Olivia was still nowhere to be seen. I wondered if she was still down the other end of the river. My heart contracted slightly, **_**she's not upset is she?**_

* * *

**Phoebe**

**I sat down furiously in the water next to Chang. "I can't believe them!" But I could, up 'til Olivia came to our school and became friends with me, none of them realised I existed, even Corey. **

"**Phoebe?" Corey said, as he still stood nearby. "Can we finish what we talking about?"**

"**It's not a good time." I snapped. Corey nodded and ruffled his hair before he walked away. I felt bad slightly but I was still incensed by the sheer indifference of my "friends" Even Kaya had cheered, she and Campbell were probably "making up" as I sat. It was after my brief outburst that I realised Chang and I had never really had a one-to-one before and was slightly self-conscious now that I had made the commitment to sit with him.**

"**You don't have to sit with me, I'm fine." He said quietly, but something in his tone seemed to want me to stay.**

"**Well someone's got to look after you. You clearly can't be trusted." I jibed, he laughed self-depreciatingly.**

"**Thanks." He smiled. "You really didn't have to do that."**

"**Truthfully, I never realised they were all so selfish." I said sadly. Before I'd started hanging out with them Id looked at their glamorous lives and wished that one day I could be one of them and have the kind of fun they did. But now I had finally arrived at my chosen destination I was worried I'd flown in the wrong class.**

"**Well…They just want to party." Chang said shyly.**

"**Don't make excuses for them, Chang. If it was one of them they'd see. But they just don't get it, they can't see for one second that there's more important things in the world than partying."**

"**I guess…" He tried. "But, we are them. And if it hadn't been me, I would've stood and laughed with the rest of them. It is my fault." He looked down at the water and flicked the luminous surface that was lit up eerily by the moon. **

"**So… this is us then." I said, defeated I looked at the beautiful people who had continued like nothing had happened. **

"**Some life, huh?" He sighed. We both looked at the others and leaned back on our hands, comfortable in our own thoughtful silence.**

"**Some life."**

* * *

**Olivia**

**I stood waist deep in the water watching Corey walk away. I sniffed. **_**Just because I didn't say "I love you"? **_**I thought. Because I wasn't prepared to lie to him I'd been left alone in the darkness. Could I love anyone? There was no reason why I couldn't love Corey, he had many loveable qualities, on top of which, he loved me and would be willing to make a commitment to me even after I treated him like crap. That's very loveable. **

**I waded to the bank and lifted myself out of the river. But truthfully whatever I felt for him, I couldn't handle being me let alone having someone else to look after. But I did want to have sex with him. Well, that could be put down to jealousy, I hadn't thought about it before I'd started it. I wanted to feel like Phoebe wasn't better than me. And after the deal he made about the moment being right I couldn't believe that he wouldn't just do it.**

_**I don't want to be a virgin anymore, **_**I thought angrily, **_**Not if it's only going to get me in trouble like this. **_**Why couldn't I be like the girls who slept with whoever? They were fine, they got a lot more attention from guys and they didn't have to bother about it being the right time, the right moment, the right guy. For girls like that there is no Mr Right, only a Mr Right Now. And none of this love business that had received so much hype, as far as I could tell it caused nothing but trouble and pain for everyone, even those who weren't involved. **

**I frowned and wiped my eyes, which were blurred with tears. My hair was wet at the ends but dry at the top where the natural wave still retained its shape. Standing on the bank I noticed Corey's shirt lying on the bank, he was gone by now. I threw his shirt angrily into water and heard it slap into the river and watched it sink.**

**I walked further back towards the party, just about ready to go home; before I saw a tall guy with short brown hair waxed slightly, it was Jack coming towards me from the party direction. I hadn't seen him since last summer, around the time Corey had last seen him, I'd heard he was back but didn't expect that a college graduate would be spending his time at a high school party. "Hey." He said, "I was looking to pitch up camp somewhere, any ideas?" **

"**Well here's pretty good I guess." I gestured towards the ground where we stood.**

"**Here it is, then." He put down his beers and sat cross legged on the ground. "Care to join me?" He asked smilingly with sparkling brown eyes. He had two dimples around his chiselled jaw, which was covered in stubble.**

"**Sure." I said. Sitting down, although I didn't know him too well. He looked me up and down as I sat, though he thought I didn't notice.**

"**Olivia, right?" He said. He barely knew my name. Although I guess that was a plus, if he knew me he probably wouldn't look at me that way at all. I nodded.**

"**Jack, if a girl threw herself at you, you'd just do it right?" Jack smiled.**

"**Sure." He looked me up and down again quickly. "What dumbass rejected you?"**

"**Your dumbass brother." I took a beer and popped the cap.**

"**Well, truly, he's a douche." He said, I smiled appreciatively. "If you hit on me…I sure as hell wouldn't turn you down." I knew what he was saying, and as brazen as he was about it all, it would take care of my problem. I thought about it for a second and took another couple of deep swigs of beer.**

"**Really?" I asked with renewed confidence. I leaned towards him.**

"**Mmm." He confirmed as he leaned in to kiss me. We kissed for a minute or two. Then he pulled away. "You wanna go back there?" He asked quietly, but smiling with a self-assured nature. He stood up as I looked down at the ground. He offered me his hand and I took it, he pulled me up from the ground and we walked part of the way into the thick cover of trees. **

**We stood between a cluster of trees and he kissed me again, this time with more agitation, before he started pushing me back against one of the trees and kissed my neck. The tree was uncomfortable and the gnarled bark dug into my back, I moved slightly to get more comfortable. **

**He stood away from me for a second and began to fumble in the back of his jeans pocket. He pulled out a shiny blue packet and showed it to me, silently asking my permission. I could hear the party a while away and wished so much that I was over there, but now I'd agreed to come back here I couldn't just change my mind. I was stuck now.**

"**In a minute." I whispered. He chuckled in what I assumed to be a saucy manner as I leaned in, with both my hands on his neck and kissed him. I could only put it off for so long. His hips grinded against mine. He planted a kiss delicately on my jaw, but his stubble scratched, and he began to move down one kiss at a time to my chest until he was peeling off my wet top, revealing my black bra and dropping it neatly beside us, he kissed me on the lips again as if to take a step backwards. But I peeled off his shirt too, more out of courtesy than anything else. He rustled the packet. "Mm." I agreed. He peeled open the packet and I looked away into the dark woods that looked at us as he put it on. **_**Last chance to get out of it.**_** But I couldn't, I didn't want to disappoint someone else tonight.**

**And then I was pressed even harder against the tree than before, my feet were no longer touching the ground, I was held up against the tree by his hips. He lifted up my skirt and clumsily pulled down my underwear. **_**Oh God. This is happening. It's really happening. **_**I couldn't help but gasp at the slight twinge of pain as he thrust into me a little too hard. "You okay?" He asked. But I could tell he didn't care what my answer was as he continued to thrust with the same vigour if not more and he kissed my neck. **

**He breathed heavily and moaned slightly as he kissed my neck. I stayed completely silent except for the occasional gasp that I couldn't help. The only other noises were the distant chatter and the summer breeze creating rustles that made me scared we would get caught. I was terrified, both of the forest and the dark trees that glowered and loomed and of what was happening. It didn't hurt that badly, but I was terrified anyway. **

**I could only think how badly I wished I'd have just said "I love you." We stayed there for what felt like hours as he kissed, thrust and touched, while I silently hated myself. Then very quickly he was much faster and his breathing was more intense. I whimpered slightly as he pushed much too hard and groaned loudly, before he sighed, then regulated his breathing and let me back down to the ground, where I quickly pulled up my underwear, pulled down my skirt and with difficulty pulled on my wet shirt. I hurried both out of mortification and the fact that I thought any second I would start crying. But he'd already pulled on his shirt, thrown the condom away, zipped up and was walking away. "Thanks." He said, but it was dismissive.**

"**Wait." I said. "Where are you going?" I asked, as I tried to catch up with him. **

"**Home. Where do you think?" He said, still not facing me.**

"**Well you're not gonna leave me here are you?" I asked panicking, as we were still in the dark and suddenly aware I had no ride home now. He stopped in his tracks.**

"**Basically, yeah." He said. I was shocked, admittedly I'd heard about him but surely he wasn't this bad?**

"**Please!" I asked, "I've got no way to get home." I added quietly, while my voice cracked. He groaned.**

"**Fine. Whatever." He answered irritably. **_**So this is what being one of those girls feels like. **_**It was the lowest I'd ever felt. "JAMIE!" He shouted, Jamie was standing by the drinks looking bored and looked up as we came out of the woods. "WE'RE LEAVING!" We both waded through the shallows to meet Jamie on the other side. **

"**Hi, I'm Jamie." Jamie said politely, smiling. **

"**Olivia." I said quietly. **

"**You riding with us, kiddo?" He asked. I nodded solemnly, I was just a kid. I regretted everything and my chest hurt, feeling heavy. "Cheer up." He said perkily, obviously happy to be leaving. "It might never happen." But it just had. The walk back to the grassy knoll where I could see Corey's SUV was painful, everything looked at me with pity, even I did.**

**We rode to my house in silence, while quiet tears fell down my cheeks in back and they were up front in Jack's truck. We pulled up beside my house which looked at me shamefully. **_**What have you done? **_**Jamie said bye and did the-nice-to-meet-you's. And Jack barely managed to nod at me. That was how much respect I had gained in the course of the evening. I pushed the car door open and hurried down the front path, the car was already speeding away. But I wanted him away from me anyway. I got to the big white door and knocked, the loud rapping noise breaking the night silence and it was wrenched open almost immediately, as if my mother had waited up, sitting behind it for my arrival. **

"**Your curfew is ELEVEN." She shouted, slamming the door behind me after she pulled me roughly through it. She was in her dressing gown and had curlers in her hair. The lights were on and everything was, as usual in its place and tidy. I caught site of myself in the mirror. My top was still wet and roughly put on so it was twisted and out of shape, my hair was messy and there were dark mascara smudges under my eyes where I had wiped my tears. I sobbed at my reflection and turned back to my mom. I buried myself in her shoulder before she could say anything against it. I half expected her to push me away. But she didn't, she held me closer than she had in a while. "Oh, Olivia. What would your father say?" She said sadly. I hoped with all my heart that he couldn't look down from wherever he was. He'd have nothing to be proud of tonight.**


	21. Chapter 18

Corey

I shoved my hands in my pockets and waded through the shallow waters, looking only at the sorry specimen that stared back at me from the water surface. I'd clearly blown it with Phoebe. No chance there. She didn't believe me, I wouldn't have either, my heart seemed to be on a wire between them, sliding backwards and forwards, pulled by the magnetism of their incredible, blazing energy.

I wondered if I went back to Olivia now, whether with time to think it over she'd have changed her mind. Unlikely, but then again, I had nothing else. At the very least I could tell her that right now, I knew that love happened later, it didn't matter now.

I had walked for a little bit before I realised I was walking, but before I knew it I was at the spot where earlier this evening I'd been so close to getting everything I wanted, but I'd turned her away. _Idiot. _The trees curled inwards, wrapping the river in a warped, gnarled tunnel with leaves everywhere including gathered on the surface of the water, dancing back and forth with every ebb and flow.

I frowned and then looked back behind me, I couldn't see anything round the bend, but just before the turning I noticed some beers lying untaken, two which had been barely drunk, lying next to a case of six more. I picked up an unopened beer. Olivia was nowhere to be seen. It looked like there'd be nothing to salvage tonight, but at least I could have another drink. I chugged deeply; I wasn't sad, but I wasn't happy either. I felt…meh. Numb, I guess. Increasingly.

In the trees I could hear rustling; as drunken curiosity got the better of me I stepped through the well-tread path. I heard another noise, one I vaguely recognised but couldn't place, it was darker through here; I could still hear the rustling, unceasing. I wasn't sure why I followed the noise like a bloodhound, but I did, I moved further in, the rustling was close, I turned right, almost upon it. Taking another deep swig of my beer I stood behind a tree and looked round it.

It was then that I heard the ragged breathing, I turned away, repulsed and drank again. But then something clicked as I heard a slight gasp that I recognised, I turned back, unable to help myself. I saw some wet blonde curls, illuminated by the moonlight that seeped through the trees. Olivia.

My heart dropped to the floor and with each ragged breath it contracted and spasmed. There she was, with another guy because I had walked away. But who was it? _Please not Lawrence. Another click. Who else at this party had an eight pack of beer with them? My heart pulsed again and then ceased beating altogether._

_***_

_I pushed away from the tree, and stepped silently back through the grass, almost falling out of the trees as I fled from the scene, unable to look anymore. Wanting to be sick, wanting to punch something and wanting to scream at the same time, but all these manifested themselves in a wave of heaviness that made my chest swell and implode simultaneously. I could've shouted, and I could have made it stop, but then someone would know that I was there, and then I'd have to acknowledge what had happened._

_I walked fast, back up the river, shell-shocked and silent, my anger building as I walked. So because I wanted to wait until she felt something serious, she took that to mean "No thanks, Liv, but here's my brother. Enjoy." I gritted my teeth. _

_The nice guy never gets the girl, we're too respectful. I'd tried so hard to be someone she would or could want and it wasn't worth a damn to her. _

_It was always this way with Jack, whatever he wanted, he'd take it. I thought things would be different when he went to college, that I might finally my own person and get what I want, but no, he's home one day and gets the girl I'd been trying to get with for two years. _

_In a sudden swell of anger I lashed out and slammed my fist into the gnarled trunk of a willow tree; I felt the bark give slightly beneath my fist, it felt good to know that I could still affect something. I slammed it in again and again, I could see my fist becoming bloodied with scars from the bark and drew away. "Dammit." I muttered._

_I needed to punch something else, to throw something else, to get this anger out before I got so heavy I sank into the earth. A nearby deckchair sat empty, a willing victim. I kicked it hard, sending it flying through the air, breaking the surface of the water, and smashing it, sending water flying over people on the other side of the river, it caught their attention. _

"_Hey!" They exclaimed and shrieked, looking on with annoyance at the strange, shirtless boy who liked to kick deckchairs. My chest heaved from the effort and from the ragged angry breathing._

"_WHAT?!" I shouted at them, they all rolled their eyes and turned away. How the mighty have fallen. I continued up the river, intending to cross at a shallower part of the river and make my way back to my car and drive home. Regardless of how much beer I'd had. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I looking at the floor, trying to get the noises out of my head, the heavy breathing, the grunting. The soundtrack of my broken heart. I felt hands secure of my shoulders from in front of me. I looked up angrily at Campbell._

"_What the hell was that?" He asked, irritated._

"_What do you think? I'm pissed off." I glared, pushing his hands off me and shoving past him._

"_Well don't be a douche about it. You'll ruin the party." He said._

"_You and your fucking parties." It was his party, his fault, he was responsible. I shoved him. "You screwed me over, man!" _

"_I didn't do shit!" He shouted, shoving me back._

"_You did enough." I growled._

"_Stop being a dick, okay? Just because you're not getting laid, doesn't mean you can take it out on the rest of us!" Campbell jibed. Of course he didn't know the relevance that this had to this evening, but I wasn't thinking about that. At the time, it was too far._

_I drew my fist back before slamming it into his jaw, knocking him off balance and almost to the floor before he caught himself. He bent double, holding his jaw and looked up at me with eyes white with rage. My rage was somehow alleviated in favour of guilt. "Look, I'm sor-" But before I could finish my apology he'd launched himself at me, tackling me to the ground, punching me also in the jaw, I winced as I felt my lip burst. As we tussled on the itchy, dry grass, swearing and punching, taking out every bad feeling we had within us. _

_After a few more punches we both separated on the ground, collapsed, crippled by pain of all kinds. I tried to steady my breath. "She's fucking Jack. I saw." I muttered feeling my stomach bend double, and before I knew it I had let out a sob, I tried to take it back, but this only caused more to follow, like a sick conga line of misery. Campbell got to his knees. _

"_Shit." _


	22. Chapter 19

Olivia

I lay on my side, the duvet strewn over me where I had kicked and pulled it with every restless yet exhausted limb. My mother had quickly shepherded me to my room and then disappeared to make me some hot milk, I wasn't sure why, but I wouldn't complain. She didn't ask questions; as if she knew. She didn't presume. And most importantly she didn't pretend to get it.

After she bought the milk up and left I drank a little of it, before placing it carefully on top of a beaded coaster on my bedside cabinet. Taking a look around, a new batch of tears had spilled from my eyes, washing away my make-up, leaving them achingly naked. This room was made for me to grow up in, but I had grown up in the space of one night and not in here, where it was almost assumed to happen, with its white walls, soft materials and delicate pink finishes.

And that brought me up to now, where the lights where off in my room, leaving it dark and damask, rescued only by the silver glow burning through the voile curtains. I wondered if I'd ever get to sleep or whether I was doomed to burn myself out, writhing in my shame.

Even if he was here, I couldn't talk to him about it.

* * *

Corey

My eyes creaked open like rusty old doors, the vaguely familiar surroundings stinging my eyes without mercy.

"Why hello there, Sleeping Beauty." Said a pair of large brown eyes, inches from mine.

"Whaat?" I managed to grumble, flashbacks. _Oh no. I didn't_.

"Good memories right?" Kaya smiled toothily. I paused, trying to get my bearings. "Still working out, I see." She said. I sat bolt upright and rubbed my tired eyes, looking down at my shirtless body I pulled the duvet up to my chin.

"Why am I here?" I asked through sleepy, wide-eyes. I peeked under the duvet. "Where are my pants?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself." She winked, shuffling around the room, barefoot on her deep shag carpet, it was then I noticed that she was also only in her underwear.

"Why are we in our underwear?!" I panicked and jumped off her bed, still holding the duvet to my body. I couldn't have done that to Campbell, no way.

"Oh relax, princess, we didn't have sex. You'd have to work a lot harder for that." She laughed, reaching over to a chair at the end of the room near the window, she picked up my jeans, which were carefully folded over one arm. "They were wet when you came in and I didn't want my sheets to get mildewed or something." She tossed them over onto the bed, casual as day. She placed her hands on her hips, still in her underwear while I tried not to look.

"And why are you in your underwear?" I backed towards her walk-in closet.

"Oh, I didn't want you to wake up and feel awkward." She explained swinging her hips towards me, her belly bar winking at me.

"Wh-What are you doing?" I said, backing away again until my back hit the wall.

"I need to get dressed and you're in my closet." She grinned, standing uncomfortably close. I slid out of her way and back into the room, sliding on my jeans hurriedly, looking round the corner of Kaya's closet as I heard her belly bar jangling with the shiny jewels. "Oh and my parents don't know you're here and I'd rather they didn't." She called out. "Campbell usually uses the window, if that helps at all. We have a trellis. That work for you?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm every experienced in the ways of the trellis." I said, ruffling my hair and heading to the window. I put two feet out onto the trellis and stepped down a couple of steps so my head was level with the window; when I looked back in I was met by Kaya's belly bar, I looked up at her, but her expression this time was serious.

"It was a good talk last night." She murmured.

"What?" I puzzled. But then a voice called from behind her bedroom door and she slammed shut the open window and stood with her back to it. I saw her rushing to pull on a nearby shirt as I slid down the trellis, presumably her parents didn't know about the belly bar either.

* * *

Phoebe 

"Hi." I said quietly.

"Hi." Chang's voice said on the other end of the phone, I wasn't sure why I'd called, but I seemed to be inexplicably unable to leave him alone, the night before we had talked for hours while we waited for his parents to drive downstate from visiting his aunt; we'd talked and joked and the conversation was fresh and bright and exciting. Fresher than much that I'd known for a while.

"How'd it go at the hospital last night?" I asked, holding the home phone to my ear with my shoulder as I poured milk onto Eloise's cereal.

"Well, my parents went nuts, as you can imagine." He laughed. "And yeah, the ankle's busted. Looks like I'll be sitting out on soccer this year." He sighed sadly. 

"Ah, that's too bad." I replied as I put the bowl down softly onto the pine table in front of Eloise's eager face. We exchanged a smile as I walked through to the living room in my sweats and long-sleeved t-shirt, my hair was tied back in a ponytail but I tucked a loose straggling hair behind my ear.

"Well, not all bad…" 

"Oh?" I asked, starting to pace the room, from sofa to sofa.

"Yeah, well there's no rules saying I have to sit alone…" My heart thumped wildly with delight, was he asking me to sit with him? I tried to figure out what to say next but nothing came, I didn't want to say anything just in case he wasn't actually asking.

"So do you have a big cast on your ankle?" I floundered.

"Yeah, my foot looks like a giant baby boot." He said bitterly.

"I'm sure you carry it off with your usual flair." I laughed, "Will you let me sign it?" I smiled.

"Sure. You can be the first to sign." I grinned.

"Well, isn't that something? The cast is saving itself for me." I said cheekily.

"My cast-virginity is yours to take, if you want it." I could hear him smiling and butterflies erupted in my stomach, fluttering excitedly.

"Oh I do, if only I had a cast of my own…But, alas, my limbs remain unbroken." I feigned sadness.

"If you ever break anything, promise me I'll be the first to sign your cast."

"Well, no guarantees," I grinned, "There'll be a lot of people clamouring for my cast-virginity, I assure you." 

"Well then, unless you come over today, I'll have to give my cast-virginity to someone else…"

"Gosh, I'd best come over today then."

"I think you'd better." I smiled softly, biting my lip, before I heard Eloise calling from the kitchen, I paced back through to the kitchen.

"I just might do that, then." 

"Great. I'll see you. Oh, and bring your best pen."

"I shall." And then we both hung up as I came face to face with Eloise who wore a dissatisfied expression on her face and had pushed the bowl away from her, with folded arms across her rounded belly.

"What is it, Eloise?" I asked, kneeling in front of her. She had her freckled face screwed up in a pout.

"You poured the milk on after the cereal." She pouted still.

"You know, your face will stick like that if you're not careful." She quickly unscrewed her face and opened her wide blue eyes.

"But you know I hate it when the milk goes on after the cereal, that's why it tastes bad."

"No, Elle, it tastes bad because mom and dad won' let you have sugar so you have to have bran." She looked disappointed and looked away. "Tell you what, scamp, I'm feeling generous. How 'bout we have some blueberry pancakes?" She squealed and wrapped her arms round me. She released me and I stood up, pouring the disgusting bran in the bin, wearing a big grin on my face and I poured flour into the mixing bowl.


	23. Chapter 20

Corey

I pulled a plastic chair onto the patio and collapsed into it, phone in hand with my shades pulled down over my eyes. I looked up into the sun, newly determined of my decision, the sky was clear blue and engulfed the roofs of the other houses, even squeezed between them. I dialled the number, leaning further back in the chair until I could see only sky.

"Hey, dad." I said to the phone.

"Oh, hello, Corey. What's wrong?" I inwardly sighed as his clipped British tones voiced the question that had too many answers.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just wanted to let you know that I've decided about my living arrangements.. For next year, you know…" I muttered.

"I expect you'll want to go with your brothers, eh?" He said, trying not to sound sad, failing miserably.

"Um, no. I- Well, I want to come to England with you." I said, my heart dropping as I said it.

"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously, "This is a big decision, young man, just make sure you've really thought about it. You're going halfway around the globe, you know."

"Well, I've been there on vacation before, it wasn't that bad." I reasoned, though his silence seemed unconvinced. "Besides, it's gotta be better than here."

"Please, Corey, really think about this." His tone was so serious. Why didn't he want me to go to England with him?

"What, you don't want me to come with you? Is that it?"

"No, of course I do!" He said, "But.. I just, I don't want you to get there and wish you were here and end up resenting me for it."

"Trust me. I won't, this is final." I said firmly.

Dad paused, "Is this about a girl?"

"No!" I objected a little too much and there was silence on the other end of the line. "Just stop okay? I'm going, that's final, I'm not gonna change my mind."

"Well, promise me that you'll think it through a little more first. Who knows? You might end up finding a reason to stay." I bit my lip, silently hoping that I would find something about this town that didn't remind me of the ache. But nothing came, the Gods had decided. Apparently I was going to England.

* * *

Olivia

Nursing my throbbing head I stumbled towards the phone. Mom was out meeting with her campaign team, the final election was in two days time. I had barely given it a moments thought and felt guilty when I realised that for a while now I had thought only of me, making choices based only what I felt. I had to give up this hedonistic way of thinking. I crossed the hall to the dark wood table hat the phone stood on and held it up to my ear. "Hello, you've reached the Hendersons?" My voice raised at the end of the announcement so it sounded like a question.

"Hello, Olivia." My head pulsed viciously.

"Um, Mr Summers, hello." My head faltered at the improbability of this phone call. But there was no mistaking the British accent.

"Hello, dear, hope you're well." He said in a business-like manner, which I didn't discover .

"Not quite at the moment I'm afraid, Mr Summers but I'll be okay."

"Right well, I'm sure you know that I'm not just calling for a natter." He announced.

"Right." I said, mentally bracing myself.

"Well, it seems to me that Corey's in some state of despair at the moment, and well, I couldn't help but wonder if you'd had something to do with it."

"Why would you think that?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Olivia, let's not beat around the bush, anyone can see what the situation is, but the situation is that Corey has decided to move with me to England at the end of this summer." My heart stopped momentarily before resuming it's beat harder and faster, it had dropped sadly. As if I had known his was coming.

"What?!"

"Well, I'm just saying. I should hope that you two would sort out your … differences before the big move." He paused as if waiting for me to say something. "…Say the things that have been left unsaid." Then I understood. "We both know that he's making a rash decision which he will ultimately regret and if there was anything that you did want to say to him, then I suggest you say it."

"Okay." I muttered this under my breath, apprehensive. "Bye." Completely aware of the purpose of the phone call I leant back against the end table and chewed a nail anxiously. It felt wrong and unfair that what continent decides to inhabit rested on my shoulders when they could barely support my own problems. I pulled open the front door and a loud gust of wind hammered down the road almost knocking me off my feet, but I caught my balance again, thoughts finally jostled into a fitting mosaic like a game of Tetris, game over? I think not.

I heard an eerie clink from down the corridor and remembered someone. "Edward?" I called. I saw his mess of black hair appear around the doorway as he shuffled towards me. "You haven't been around lately." I said.

"I'm going." He said simply. The expression of confusion on my face was enough to encourage him to carry on. "You're just - People aren't how I remembered them."

"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" I pushed my hair away from my face.

"I've left town before. I don't feel like I can be around you, your self-destructiveness is too much for me, and you know, you barely noticed I was here for the past couple of days anyway. I doubt it'll be a big loss to you." A pang of guilt punched me in the stomach.

"I'm so sorry, it's- I'm not usually like this." I said crossing my arms. "Just stick around, this has been a bad week for me, you can stay, it won't happen again." He shook his head.

"It's not about that. I just don't think there's room down here for a boy like me." He shook his head and looked at the floor, causing his wild mess of hair to tumble into his eyes.

"You know, you'll always be special to me Edward." He looked at his feet. "I've only known you for about a week, but it's been such a wrecked out week." He stood still. "You know what I thought, when I first saw you?" His pink rimmed eyes looked at me blankly. "I thought you were really …beautifully broken."

"I thought that was you." He said quietly, "You're like a clock with two ticks and no tocks, it's difficult to see at first, but if you listen hard, there's something… different. You're not like the other clocks. I won't forget you for that. Please, don't pretend to tock anymore." I giggled quietly at this weird analogy, as spot on as it was. "I guess this is goodbye, then." I said to the gangly PVC boy who stood in front of me with a pinched smile and dark piercing eyes. "I'll never forget you." I said as my nose stung and my eyes began blur, how could I ever forget?

***

I approached the door carefully, steering myself around the various lawn gnomes that littered the yellowing summer grass. I was suddenly aware of who might be behind it, the whole walk to Corey's I had carefully planned out what I would say, how I would say it, how everything would be okay. But I wasn't here for Jack, Corey never had to find out about that, no one had to. I rapped four times on the door with my head held high. But there was no answer, I began to walk away from the front porch when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, I turned round sharply. Sharper than Corey expected as he darted behind the curtain of the upstairs window, but he knew that he'd been caught.

I stood firm, until he couldn't resist checking that the coast was clear and he met my eyes directly. He stood for a moment, bolted to the spot, looking at me. Expecting. I shrugged, he backed away from the window and moments later the front door opened and he stood there, again, expecting something amazing.

"What?" He said finally to break the silence.

"I know I was supposed to come here with something breathtaking to say." I kicked the ground with my shoe as if trying to demolish the large gulf between us as he stood metres away on the porch. "But to be honest… I got nothing. You're always the one with the right thing to say." He stayed in silence still, unforgiving, cold silence. Taking a deep breath I said, "You know how you said that you loved me?" This at last provoked a reaction as he looked away, humiliated. "It's really nice that you can put yourself on the line like that, see, I can't, it's just not me. I might not be able to say it, but I know that when we're together there is something there. I know you're not going to deny it." He wouldn't meet my eye at all now. "Are you?"

"No." I took another relieving deep breath

"I want to be with you Corey. I really, _really _do." He looked back at me, with exhausted, pained eyes as if he wanted to announce something, to contradict me, but something held him back. "I want to find the right words…" I said, biting my lip, he still looked at me in injured quietude. "What?" I asked finally, "Seriously, you just keep looking at me. I don't know what to say! Look, I think I love you. Okay?" The taciturn figure in the doorway said nothing. "But how am I supposed to know for sure if you go to England?"

"So, I'm supposed to risk having you make an idiot of me again because you "think" you love me?" He asked. "That's not enough." I opened my mouth. "And you're just saying it because you don't want your whipping boy to go away. Heaven forbid you might have to find your sick little kicks somewhere else."

"I didn't mean to hurt you." I replied softly.

"Don't flatter yourself." He scoffed.

"Come on, Summers, give me a break here. I'm trying." I pleaded. "I'm not perfect, I make mistakes!"

"Oh I know." He said, glaring.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Sleeping with my brother, maybe?" He shouted. I looked at him, shocked for a second, with nothing to say. "Oh right, no sorry, there wasn't very much sleeping involved, was there? Now try and pull that little-miss-innocent look and see if it works." I felt myself exhale sharply.

"If that's the way you feel then what the hell am I even doing here?" He shrugged. "I never said I was perfect. You rejected me, I thought you didn't like me! You said no, what was I supposed to think?!"

"I said no BECAUSE I liked you!" He shouted. "You must have realised that! You said you didn't love me and I wanted it to be special between us, I wanted to set you apart from all the others!" He walked down the porch steps and stood still a sizeable distance away. I broke the distance and walked slowly to within inches of him.

"Past tense?" I whispered. Already expecting another evasive answer. But instead he moved in closer.

"Do you really have to ask?" And then he leant in and kissed me, and it was perfect.

* * *

A/N: I've worked on this for a very long time and I'm still not entirely happy with the finished result, anyway, please review and let me know what you think. There is still one chapter left to go and a really big bombshell left to drop. And believe me, it's gonna drop hard ;) I'm also thinking of doing a sequel to this because it's been on my mind a lot, but less a sequel more of a prequel, except obviously Edward won't be in it so I'll have to put it on fiction press and send you the link personally or something. Anyway, let me know if you're interested, okay thanks J x


	24. Chapter 21

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter, I hope it's to your liking, but it'll probably be quite short, I just needed a separate chapter to drop the bomb in.

* * *

I bounded down the stairs two at a time, blonde curls bouncing into my eyes until I reached the bottom wit a large grin on my face, jumping into the kitchen not knowing when the last time was that I felt this happy. Mom sat in the kitchen at the breakfast bar, drinking orange juice and reading the paper in a grey pantsuit, light spilled in from the kitchen and bounced off her shiny chestnut hair. "Morning, sweetie." She smiled, looking over the paper at me, I stood on the other side of the breakfast bar, slicing an apple into segments beaming at her. "You seem chipper this morning." She said sounding impressed.

"As do you my dear mother, and why wouldn't we on such a beautiful day?" I picked up an apple slice and popped it into my mouth, grinning as I crunched.

"Well I didn't think you'd be this happy about the polls." She smiled, "But it is pretty good, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" I asked.

"The polls, Olivia. They're looking very promising aren't they?" She prompted, I nodded and finished chewing.

"Oh…yeah!" I smiled.

"It's so nice to think that all this hard work is going to pay off, everything I've been working for may come to fruition." The many windows in our kitchen let in a lot of light as it was and the white walls and floors echoed this, but this morning it seemed like the two of us were enough to light up the room.

"So I think it's pretty obvious it wasn't the polls you were so happy about, what's up?" She asked.

"Well…I have a boyfriend." I grinned. My first boyfriend since third grade.

"…Who?" She asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, mom, I didn't meet him on the internet." I laughed. She looked back at me. "No." I repeated, "It's Corey! And he's picking me up for our first real date in like, ten minutes." I squealed in excitement at this.

"No." Mom said flatly, putting down her newspaper and standing up.

"What do you mean "no"?" I asked quietly, feeling my bubble burst.

"You are not dating that boy." Her face was firm again, as if feeling withdrawal from the short spell of smiles.

"What?! It's not even your decision!" I yelled.

"I think you'll find it is." She said, raising her voice. "If I have to ground you for the rest of your life you will not see that boy."

"Why?! What do you have against him?!"

"I'm not going to explain myself to you, Olivia. You'll do as I say." I scoffed loudly at this.

"I'll do what I want." I said defiantly, walking to the doorway, I looked back for a second and sawher straighten up, looking as if this had knocked her.

"I'm calling Dr Walker, he will know what to do." She walked to the phone.

"Why do you expect him to solve all our problems, he doesn't even know our situation! I had one session with him and I couldn't even take five minutes of his stupid questions. Just be straight with me for once, mom! What is your problem with Corey?" I pleaded.

"Your father told me never to tell you." She said looking away evasively.

"What did Dad say?" It wasn't like him to slander someone for no reason, I wondered if there was a real reason behind mom's opinion.

"He doesn't treat girls right." She said, but that wasn't all, I could tell.

"How do you even know that? Besides, he's different now."

"Oh they'll always say that just to get what they want, don't be so naïve, Olivia!" She shouted. I shook my head, crossing my arms, unable to believe what I was hearing.

"Corey has been nothing but a gentleman to me."

"Has he told you about last year? Kaya Estevez?" I looked at her, puzzled. "Thought not."

"I don't have to listen to this." I said, heading for the door again, but she blocked my path, standing between me and the doorway she looked me straight in the eyes, I looked down at the floor and refused to look up.

"He got her pregnant, Olivia and was forcing her to terminate, the poor girl got so frightened she went upstate to have it done, she couldn't get any support from him at all, and then she couldn't abort the baby so she kept it. In fact it's a little boy, he is in foster care up there and your new boyfriend has never paid one visit to him! So you can understand why I don't want you around him" My mind puzzled and my head span, how did she know this? Kaya had gone away to Africa for part of the year to do volunteer work, at least that was what I thought… I looked up. A pair of brown eyes stared at me from the corridor behind my mother.

"…The door was open." Corey said, making my mother jump before she span round to face him, left speechless after her rant. "I-uh, I have to go." He said quickly, walking down the corridor, running his hands through his hair. I pushed past my mom.

"Wait, Corey, was that true?! How could you not tell me that?!" I yelled as I followed him out of the door.

"I- I need to think." He said, picking up the pace, so I did the same, following him onto the street as he began hurrying down the road.

"Wait, talk to me! Why would you lie like that?" He walked faster until he broke into run. "Corey, stop this now! Wait!" But my cries were in vain as he ran away, our perfect moment and our first date hanging in tatters, I stopped following him, worried that I might chase him off the surface of the earth and sat down on the kerb, deflated, my head buzzing with a million thoughts and wished that this summer had never begun.

***

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A/N : Okay, so that is the end, short, I know, but I've already plotted out the prequel to this in my head, if you're interested in reading it send me a PM or review or if you'd rather read the sequel to this also tell me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, it's taken me over a year to do but I think it really has been worth it, thank you so much for reading it and I hope that I will be writing for you again very soon J


	25. An extra

A/N: This isn't another chapter or anything, but I've started writing a prequel to this story, alhough obviously because there's no edward in it I couldn't publish it on fanfiction, so it's on fictionpress, and here's the link if you'd like to read it

.com/s/2799833/1/Trial_And_Error


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